Separation Situation
by Shadow Jaganshi
Summary: Kurama has an accident that makes Youko and Shuuichi two completely different people.
1. Separated

CHAPTER ONE  
Separated  
  
Hiei was in no mood to be bothered. He was half-asleep and had a horrible headache. And an even worse hangover from the night before, when he had lost a drinking contest to Kurama. But, as is usual in most cases like this, he got bothered.  
  
Somebody pounded on the door.  
  
"Hiei, get out here! We don't have time for you to lounge around in your room! There's some freaky demon attacker theif guy or something outside the city waiting for us to come whip his ass! Speaking of asses, you better get yours out here soon or it's gonna be black and blue!" Yusuke yelled through the door.  
  
"Have Shadow fight!" Hiei snapped.  
  
"What? Me? Fight? Are you nuts? I am what you might like to call a spectator. I watch. And when one of you gets your face plastered into the ground, I wrap you up in bandages and carry you home. I am not a spirit detective fighter person!!!" Shadow yelled.  
  
"Fight anyway!"  
  
"What's wrong with you, Hiei?! Last time I checked, you LIKED to fight!" Yusuke yelled.  
  
"Maybe he's on P.M.S," Shadow muttered under her breath.  
  
"BOYS DON'T GET P.M.S, YOU SICK CHILD!!!" Hiei screamed.  
  
"I KNOW THAT, HIEI! I WAS JOKING! JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE A HANGOVER, YOU HAVE TO GO AND BE A LITTLE IMBECILE ABOUT IT!" Shadow shot back. Hiei let out a low growl. He stood up and ripped open his door, nearly tearing it off the hinges in his fury.  
  
"FINE!!!" Hiei snapped. "I'LL FIGHT! But if ANYONE says ANYTHING about last night, you are going to be VERY SORRY!"  
  
Shadow and Yusuke followed Hiei down the stairs and out the front door to where Kurama and Kuwabara were waiting. The group took off down the street towards the pre-arranged fight.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Upon arriving, the boys were instantly attacked. Shadow hung back, avoiding the main fight ground.  
  
The fight dragged on. Kuwabara was the first one down, proving that, even when he had a hangover, Hiei was better. Suddenly, Shadow heard a yell. She looked up. The enemy was fighting Kurama one-on-one. Kurama was on one knee, holding his stomach. Blood seeped between his fingers. The enemy stepped forward. Kurama tried to stand, but the enemy grabbed him.  
  
"Your soul is different than the others'. I want to see it," the enemy hissed. Kurama wasn't sure what was going on, except that he was probably about to die. The enemy placed his hand on Kurama's chest. A faint light glowed around his hand. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion.  
  
The next thing anyone knew, the enemy was dead. Shadow, Yusuke, and Hiei ran to check on Kurama. They stopped dead at what they saw.  
  
Youko Kurama was sprawled on the ground, breathing hard. A few feet away, a human boy with long red hair was laying unconscious. The three boys stared in horror. Finally, Hiei spoke up.  
  
"They're... separated?" he muttered.  
  
Yusuke ran to check on Shuuichi's body.  
  
"He's still alive!" Yusuke yelled. He gathered the boy up in his arms and carried him back to where Shadow and Hiei were standing. Youko still hadn't gotten up. Hiei kneeled beside him.  
  
"Youko? Are you all right?" Hiei asked. Youko groaned.  
  
"What... Hiei?" he muttered. He sat up. "What's going on?"  
  
"That's what we'd like to know," Yusuke said. Youko looked at him and jumped at the sight of the body in his arms.  
  
"How is this possible?"  
  
"We'd like to know that, too," Shadow said. Youko and Hiei stood up.  
  
"We should contact Koenma," Yusuke said.  
  
From his place on the ground 10 feet away, Kuwabara groaned and sat up. He'd heard the explosion. He looked around, spotting Youko.  
  
"Can you get up? If you can, please do," Shadow called to Kuwabara from where she stood. The human boy struggled to his feet, staggering over to where the rest of the group stood. He almost screamed when he saw Shuuichi's body in Yusuke's arms. He looked back and forth between Youko and Shuuichi.  
  
"What the heck is going on here, you guys?" Kuwabara asked.  
  
"We don't know. Let's get back to Shadow's house," Yusuke said.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A little while later, they arrived back at Shadow's house. They headed down to the small infirmary she had in the basement.  
  
Yusuke gently put Shuuichi's body down on one of the beds.  
  
"Yusuke, could you tend to Shuuichi's injuries? I have to get Hiei's and Kuwabara's..." Shadow said. Yusuke nodded and she turned to Youko. "Are you hurt at all?"  
  
"No..." Youko answered. "But I want to know what happened."  
  
"We don't know," Hiei answered, sitting on one of the beds so Shadow could tend to his wounds. "All we know is that somehow, you got completely separated from the human body you've been in for 16 years."  
  
"What about him?" Youko asked, pointing at Shuuichi.  
  
"Who knows," Hiei muttered. "Ow!" He jumped as Shadow dabbed at a gash on his arm with an alcohol-soaked cloth. "That burns."  
  
"Live with it," Shadow answered. Usually, she was a rather useless person who seemed like a bit of an airhead, but when she needed to be, she was serious and helpful. Hiei jumped again as she poked his wound. She grabbed a box of bandages and began wrapping the injury. Youko started absentmindedly wandering around, looking at various bottles and boxes on the shelves around the room.  
  
The doorbell rang.  
  
"What?! Who could that be? I'm busy... Youko, would you... No, best not..." Shadow said, realizing how shocked a normal human would be to see a fox- eared man answer the door. "I'll go," she muttered, handing the half- wrapped bandage to Hiei and darting past Youko and up the stairs.  
  
Everybody was rather quiet. Hiei finished wrapping his arm while Yusuke bandaged Shuuichi's wounds. Kuwabara was laying on one of the beds, conscious but not looking too happy. Youko's ears twitched as he listened to Shadow upstairs.  
  
"It's Koenma," he announced, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Well at least he saved us the trouble of going to Reikai," Yusuke said, sounding rather bored. A second later, Shadow came back down the stairs with teenage Koenma trailing behind her. He stopped in the doorway.  
  
"Oh dear," he whispered, seeing Youko and Shuuichi as seperate people. "This isn't good."  
  
"Why not?" Youko said this like a challenge, or a threat, daring Koenma to say that his freedom was a bad thing.  
  
"Why... not?" Koenma repeated cautiously. "Well, it's obvious that Kurama-- er... Shuuichi will be a completely different person if, or when, he regains consciousness. Who knows what he'll be like."  
  
Hiei grinned. "You forgot the part about the legendary theif being loose in Ningenkai," he said, knowing that was part of Koenma's reasoning.  
  
"Yes... Well that IS a small problem, Youko," Koenma said, looking at the fox nervously. "You'll have to stay away from humans, so you only have a few choices. Stay here, with Shadow and Hiei, assuming they don't mind..."  
  
Shadow and Hiei didn't care, so Koenma continued.  
  
"Or you could come back to Reikai and stay there."  
  
"In Reikai prison," Youko finished under his breath.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'll stay here, since I probably couldn't stop myself from stealing all your precious Reikai artifacts," Youko sneered. "And ~you~ couldn't stop me either."  
  
Koenma looked slightly paler after that comment. "I... uh... I'll be back when, or if, Shuuichi wakes up. I'll be going now." He vanished.  
  
"So you're staying with us, huh?" Hiei said.  
  
"I guess so. If Shadow doesn't mind, of course," Youko teased. Shadow didn't mind that much, but she was glaring at him with enough evil in her eyes to make even Youko jump.  
  
"What did I do?" he asked.  
  
"Guilty conscience," Shadow muttered under her breath. Youko's ear twitched and he narrowed his eyes. "NO STEALING, FOX!"  
  
"Ha. Like you have anything I'd want," Youko replied arrogantly, back to his normal self.  
  
"You'd be surprised," Hiei said, but seeing the look Shadow gave him, he quickly 'corrected' himself.  
  
"I mean, probably not," Hiei said. Then he added, "But you never know."  
  
"Shut UP, baka fire demon!" Shadow yelled, punching him in the back of the head.  
  
"Ow!" Hiei yelped.  
  
"Yusuke, have you got Shuuichi's wounds taken care of?" Shadow asked, ignoring Hiei's whispered curses as he rubbed his head.  
  
"Almost."  
  
"Well, take care of Kuwabara too if he needs it," Shadow said. "I'm going to show our new ~guest~ to his room. C'mon." She grabbed Youko by the front of his shirt, spun him around, and practically dragged him out of the room. Somehow, she didn't lose her arm.  
  
Once they were upstairs, Shadow let go and turned around so fast Youko nearly ran into her.  
  
"Okay, if you're going to live here, there's three rules. No stealing. No killing of anything larger than an insect. And last, DO NOT DESTROY ANYTHING IN THIS HOUSE!! I get enough of my house destroyed by that little pyromaniac I live with," Shadow snapped. Youko looked startled. Then he smiled.  
  
"You really don't trust me," he realized.  
  
"Can you blame her?" Hiei said, coming up the stairs. "You ARE the legendary bandit, after all."  
  
Youko shrugged. "Oh well."  
  
"Other than that, you're pretty much free to do whatever. I suggest you don't go out and hang around in the front yard much, either. There's a gang of 10-year-olds on bikes that go by here all the time, and if they saw you, the cops would be here in no time, because the little kids would to crying to their mommies about a wolf man trying to eat them alive..." Shadow said.  
  
"Wolf man?" Youko said, disgusted. "I am a FOX, not a wolf."  
  
"Well, those kids would think you're a wolf, because they saw Hiei once and thought he was Frankenstien."  
  
A little halo seemed to appear out of nowhere above Hiei's head.  
  
Youko stared at Hiei for a minute. "Frankenstien?!"  
  
"Yeah... heh... Long story," Hiei said.  
  
"Anyway! Back to the point. Youko, your room is the guest room across the hall from mine. NOT the one with the weasels in it, either, because we all know that those weasels would not sit well with the idea of a kitsune sleeping in their room," Shadow said.  
  
"Right..." Youko muttered. He walked upstairs.  
  
"Well..." Hiei muttered. "This just feels all wrong."  
  
"That's because it IS wrong. Shuuichi is... human. Well, not... He's always been human. I mean, he doesn't have a spirit fox soul. And the spirit fox is... upstairs. In the guest bedroom. He should be... in Shuuichi. And... Maybe Shuuichi won't have a soul," Shadow said. She was practically having a nervous breakdown.  
  
"I'm sure he'll have a soul," Hiei muttered.  
  
"And what about his mind? He doesn't have Youko's mind anymore. He mind just be a hollow body! He might never wake up. And if he does, who knows what he'll be like!" Shadow was completely freaking out now.  
  
"Shadow! Calm down. The world is not going to end because of this," Hiei said, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her.  
  
"Agh! Okay! Let go!" Shadow snapped. Hiei let go. Shadow swayed for a second before shaking her head and blinking. "I'm okay. Are you okay? How are your wounds?"  
  
"I'm fine. I'll be fine. Shuuichi will be fine. We just have to wait for him to wake up. After that, we'll try to figure out what to do with him. Them. Okay?" Hiei said.  
  
"Yeah. Okay," Shadow muttered. "I'm going to my room."  
  
Hiei watched Shadow stomp up the stairs to her room. He turned around and went back downstairs.  
  
"Yusuke?" Hiei said, walking around the corner. Yusuke had his back to Hiei and was desperately trying to bandage his wounds on his own.  
  
"They just go and vanish, not even asking if I'm okay. Not asking me if I need help. NO, they just assume Yusuke is all mighty and can do everything on his own. I feel so stupid! I can't even bandage my own stupid injuries..." Yusuke was talking to himself.  
  
"Hey!" Hiei snapped. Yusuke jumped a million miles in the air.  
  
"Holy God!" Yusuke yelped, spinning around. "DON'T SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT, HIEI!!!"  
  
"God! Sor-ry!" Hiei said, sitting cross-legged (indian-style, whatever) on the edge of a table. "You shouldn't talk to yourself, you know. It's a sign of insanity."  
  
"Pfft. That's only if you answer yourself," Yusuke said. He dropped the roll of bandages. "I could use some help here!"  
  
Rolling his eyes, Hiei jumped down from the table. He picked up the roll and started wrapping the bandage around Yusuke's upper arm.  
  
"So what're you guys gonna do with Youko?" Yusuke asked.  
  
"I don't know. Shadow practically had a nervous breakdown because she doesn't know what to do with Shuuichi, or if he'll wake up, but she's pretty much in control with Youko. She already set down her rules... But somehow I don't think he'll obey..."  
  
"Of course I will," Youko said from behind them. Hiei and Yusuke jumped. Hiei dropped the bandage and the whole thing came unwrapped from Yusuke's arm. Youko smothered laughter as Hiei knelt to gether up the mess of cloth.  
  
"Let's see you do better, hot shot!" Hiei snapped, throwing the bandage at Youko. It landed in a tangled mess on top of his head.  
  
"Hell no, man! I'm a theif, not a nurse!" Youko snapped, untangling himself from the bandage and throwing it back at Hiei. The fire demon caught it and stared at it. It was covered in fuzz and hair, and the cloth was already coming apart.  
  
"Yusuke, bandage your own stupid wound!" Hiei said, getting annoyed with trying to untangle, clean, and roll up the cloth. He stuck it in Yusuke's hand and went back to perch on the table. Youko walked over to Shuuichi's bed.  
  
"Just look at him. That used to be me. But not anymore. Now I'm free again, and I intend to make good use of it," Youko said quietly, more to himself than anyone else. "But first... I'm hungry... Did I see goldfish on my way down here?" Youko walked out of the room. A second later, after realizing what he had just heard, Hiei shot out of the room.  
  
"Youko! No! Not the fish! Shadow will have your head on a plate!!!" he called, shooting up the stairs after the spirit fox.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
This story is just something that came into my head because I wanted to write a story with Youko as a permanent character, rather than just surfacing now and then. So he's here, and he'll be here until who knows when. R&R, minna!  
  
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	2. Dealing with Youko

Thanks for reviewing, liei! Anyway, I prefer to get more reviews than one (One!?!) before I post the next chapter, but it's done, and for all I know I'll have to wait weeks for the second review, so here it is. I also have to update "When You Think You're Alone," and during science class today I had an idea for another story, so... My brain is overloading. Anyway, PLEASE review. R&R. Bye!  
  
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CHAPTER TWO  
Dealing with Youko...  
...isn't fun  
  
Youko sat at the dining room table, contentedly eating various foods (mostly meat) that Hiei had scrounged up from the kitchen. He heard Shadow coming before she even touched the stairs. He didn't pay any attention until she walked into the dining room.  
  
"Holy God, man! Are you honestly planning on eating that all!?" Shadow said, staring at the food spread all over the table. "I'm not rich, you know."  
  
Youko swallowed his food and stared up at her innocently.  
  
"Don't give me that look!" she snapped. Then she sighed and walked into the kitchen. A minute later she walked back in carrying a bottle of soda. She stared at Youko for a second before shrugging and sitting down across the table from him.  
  
"So, are you enjoying your wonderful new home?" Shadow asked dryly, her blood-red eyes locked on Youko's beautiful gold ones.  
  
"It's fine," he answered, matching her emotionless, bored tone and not breaking the eye contact.  
  
"Oh yeah? ~Just~ fine? I suppose it's only good or spectacular if you've found something worth stealing, right?" Shadow shot back, narrowing her eyes.  
  
"I wouldn't steal from you anyway. According to Hiei, you'd have my head on a stick in your front yard if I did."  
  
Shadow smiled evilly. "He said that? I've taught him well."  
  
"I suppose you could say that..." Youko paused. "You know, I can't help but wonder what you'd do if I ended up living here."  
  
At this, Shadow's barrier vanished so fast it was like somebody had set off an explosive. Her eyes shot wide open and every bit of emotion came back to her voice.  
  
"I'D KILL MYSELF, THAT'S WHAT!" she yelled, looking horrified.  
  
"Oh dear, now don't do that!" Youko said, startled. "Hiei would be quite miserable."  
  
"Hiei?"  
  
"Yes. He loves you, you know."  
  
He had barely finished that sentence when a black blur shot into the room. A second later, there was a loud crack and Youko fell off his chair. Hiei came into focus at the same time, still holding half of the baseball bat he'd just broken over Youko's head.  
  
The fox stood up, rubbing his head and glaring at Hiei. Shadow stared at the two of them, still trying to figure out exactly what had triggered the whole thing, as she had been so startled when half a baseball bat nearly took off her head that she forgot.  
  
"Youko Kurama, I suggest you shut your big mouth and don't tell this girl your lies," Hiei said coldly.  
  
"Hiei Jaganshi, I suggest you never break a baseball bat over my head again or you'll be very sorry," Youko growled. The two glared at each other. Shadow realized that having Youko living with her and Hiei was not a good idea.  
  
"Okay boys, NO FIGHTING!!!" she snapped.  
  
After a few minutes, the two stopped their murder plots and went back to whatever they'd been doing before. Shadow followed Hiei upstairs and locked herself in her room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Youko paced his room. Everybody else was asleep. He was bored. Shadow had forbidden him from some of his favorite things. Stealing, mostly.  
  
He sat down on his bed, thinking. Suddenly, a smiled spread over his face.  
  
There was one thing he knew he shouldn't do, and, although Shadow hadn't specifically said so, he knew he was most likely forbidden from. But hey, she hadn't said this straight out... Besides, he felt like breaking some rules.  
  
He left his room and walked across the hall to Shadow's door. Turning the knob, he discovered Shadow had probably half-expected something like this. The door was locked.  
  
Oh well. He didn't become a legendary theif without knowing how to pick a simple lock. He pulled thin piece of metal out of his pocket and knelt in front of the door. A second later, the lock popped open and he pushed open the door. It didn't squeak or stick. He smiled.  
  
Shadow was sleeping peacefully in her bed. He watched her for a second to make sure she wasn't faking it, but he could tell by her breathing that she wasn't. He slipped under the covers beside her, and, getting as close as he dared (which was rather close), he fell asleep with a small smile on his face.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Shadow woke up. She felt something soft against her leg. Confused, she rolled over, hoping it would go away, and the first thing she saw was the calmly sleeping face of a certain spirit fox. First, she was scared. Then she was furious.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hiei woke with a start as furious yells broke the silence in the house.  
  
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?!" Shadow screamed. Confused, Hiei sat up. After a second, there was more screaming.  
  
"ALL YOU'VE GOT TO SAY FOR YOURSELF IS 'GOOD MORNING, SHADOW'!? I THINK YOU'D BETTER START MAKING SOME GOOD EXCUSES, OR YOU'RE GONNA GET A SERIOUS BEATING!!! YOU PICKED THE LOCK ON MY DOOR AND CAME IN MY ROOM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, AND ALL YOU'VE GOT TO SAY IS GOOD MORNING?! AT LEAST GET OUT OF MY BED!!!"  
  
Upon hearing that, Hiei was fully awake. He jumped up, pulling on a shirt as he ran out of his room. He was down the stairs in a second and came to a sliding stop outside Shadow's bedroom. Youko was sitting in Shadow's bed with a calm, if not slightly amused, look on his face. She was out of her bed, standing halfway across the room. Hiei noticed that she had fangs. He'd never seen that before, although given the situation that was the reason for the fangs to be so apparent, he was rather glad he'd never seen them before.  
  
"OUT!!! GET OUT OF MY BED!!! IF YOU'RE GONNA PULL THIS KIND OF STUFF WITH ME, YOU CAN JUST GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!! NOW EITHER START MAKING EXCUSES, OR START BEGGING, BUT EITHER WAY, SOMETHING ~BAD~ IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU!!!"  
  
Hiei was surprised at how angry she was. He looked at Youko. The fox was completely unaffected. He still had a smile on his face. He was amused. He didn't care that Shadow was going to tear him apart; he had had his fun. Breaking into her room was the closest thing he could get to breaking into some forbidden, highly guarded area (not that Shadow's room wasn't...), and besides, it had been a while since he'd slept in the same bed with a girl, with or without permission. He was in a good mood.  
  
"YOUKO KURAMA, YOU---"  
  
Shadow's insult was cut short by a frantic yell from down the hall, and it's a good thing it was, because she was about to call him something BAD. Yusuke came to a sliding stop outside Shadow's door, nearly tripping and falling on Hiei.  
  
"Guys! Shuuichi's awake!!!" Yusuke yelled. Then he realized what he was seeing and his jaw dropped. Shadow realized what Yusuke had just said and forgot about Youko. She dashed out the door and down the hall with Hiei and Youko right on her heels. Yusuke walked bahind them, still confused about what he'd seen in Shadow's bedroom.  
  
When the group got to the basement, Kuwabara was standing beside Shuuichi's bed. He had his hands on Shuuichi's shoulders to keep him from sitting up. The boy looked a little scared and a lot confused. He jumped when he saw Shadow, Hiei, and Youko.  
  
"Who... are you?" he asked.  
  
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Read & Review, ppl! Thanks a billion if you do!  
  
I accept line challenges, and flames (although I don't like them much at all...), uh... any other kind of feedback, please feel free to tell me. ^_^ 


	3. Decisions

CHAPTER THREE  
Decisions  
  
"So do you remember any of us?" Shadow asked.  
  
"Yes..." Shuuichi muttered. He looked around at them all with a completely clueless look on his face. "Why does it hurt?" he asked, jabbing at the cut across his stomach.  
  
"Why?! Uh..." Shadow looked thoughtful. "Because you had an accident, and you were injured."  
  
"Accident?"  
  
"Yeah. You, uh... Fell. Or something," Shadow answered.  
  
"Shadow..." Hiei hissed under his breath.  
  
"I remember your names... But I don't know anything else. Where am I?" Shuuichi asked.  
  
"You need to rest. Your wound won't heal if you don't rest," Shadow said, hoping to stop his questions.  
  
"Wound?"  
  
"Yeah. The gash on your stomach... The hurt?" Shadow said, explaining it like you would to a little child and pointing to the bandages wrapped around his body. Shuuichi realized what she meant and nodded.  
  
"But I don't remember anything. I don't know anything. All I know is that that my name is Shuuichi. And guys know more than I do. I want to know!" Shuuichi said.  
  
"Well, rest, and we'll talk when you're better," Shadow said. She led the rest of them out of the room and closed the door, leaving Shuuichi alone.  
  
"Well. Now we know," Hiei said.  
  
"He doesn't know ANYTHING!" Shadow said. "We're going to have to teach him everything and he'll never ever be the same person that we're so used to. This is BAD!!"  
  
"Calm down Shadow. He's just like a little kid," Youko said. Shadow glared at him.  
  
"I despise small children," she hissed.  
  
"Of course... He's never going to be the same. That's true. Even if somebody ~does~ figure out how to recombine me and him, I refuse. I'm enjoying my freedom," Youko said, smiling down at Shadow with a... er... ~suggestive~ look in his eyes. All at once, Shadow remembered Youko's little sin.  
  
"Youko Kurama, you had better not be planning to come sleep with me every night until I get rid of you. Cuz if you are, I'll have to start posting a guard," she snapped, pointing at Hiei, "outside my door!"  
  
"Oh, there'll be no need for that... I'm hoping to get you to be more... oh... I don't know... more ~agreeable~ when it comes to that," Youko said, the suggestive look in his eyes again. Shadow looked outraged. The next thing anyone knew, Youko was lying on the floor with Shadow standing next to him holding a crowbar. Hiei, Kuwabara, and Yusuke simultaneously sweatdropped.  
  
"I WILL NOT!" Shadow screamed. Youko rubbed his head and looked up at Shadow with one eye squeezed closed from pain.  
  
"Well... we'll see..." Youko said with a smile. Shadow hit him again.  
  
"Sex-crazed pervert," she muttered, stepping over him to get to the stairs. Hiei looked at Youko nervously. The kitsune sat up, rubbing his head, and let out one little whimper under his breath. Shadow was still muttering as she made her way upstairs.  
  
"Just because I'm the first girl he sees, I have to be the one he harasses... Honestly... You'd think after a thousand years he'd know not to mess with girls like that..."  
  
Youko's ears twitched as he listened to the insults. Then he smiled, despite the oversized bump on his head. Hiei sighed and rolled his eyes at the kitsune's persistence. He also pitied Shadow.  
  
"Youko, do you ~have~ to be like that?" Hiei asked quietly, helping the fox to his feet.  
  
"Well of course. If you'd gone sixteen years without sex, wouldn't you?" Youko asked. Hiei rolled his eyes. "Yes, well I suppose ~you~ wouldn't, Hiei..."  
  
"What's ~that~ supposed to mean!?" Hiei asked. "Besides, the Forbidden Child is not allowed to love."  
  
"Who says it has to be out of love?"  
  
Kuwabara, who had been listening to the whole conversation, got rather annoyed at this point.  
  
"How could you say something like that?! It's not right just you use women however you want! That's sexist!" Kuwabara snapped. Hiei was surprised the human had found the guts to stand up to Youko.  
  
"Baka ningen. I use people how I please, and ~you~ aren't going to stop me. But if you'd like to try... Feel free," the fox challenged.  
  
Kuwabara was rather... intimidated... by the tone of Youko's voice. "It's just not right to use people, though! And you should know that. You've been around for how long?"  
  
"Pah. That's exactly the point. I'm over one thousand years old. I'm not about to change my ways so some baka ningen will be happy. I'd rather kill you and be over with it."  
  
"What!? That's not necessary... I mean... I was just saying..."  
  
"Well don't."  
  
Hiei smiled as Kuwabara slunk back to sit on the floor in the corner.  
  
"So... What are we going to do about Shuuichi?" Yusuke finally asked.  
  
"I exclude myself from this conversation," Youko said dryly, walking up the stairs. Hiei, in the process of letting his mind drift, caught one of Youko's thoughts:  
  
'Now, where did Shadow get off to?'  
  
"Eeehg..." Hiei muttered.  
  
"What's wrong, Hiei?" Yusuke asked.  
  
"Youko is what's wrong..." Hiei muttered, darting up the stairs after the kitsune. Yusuke watched him with a dumb look on his face before turning to Kuwabara.  
  
"I have a feeling we're going to be taking care of him alone for a while," Yusuke said.  
  
"Not like it's a bad thing, is it? I mean, he ~was~ our friend before he got all messed up. It's only fair to be kind," Kuwabara said. "I mean, how would you feel if you woke up and couldn't remember anything?"  
  
"I wouldn't feel much, 'cause I wouldn't know what I'd forgotten."  
  
Kuwabara muttered something under his breath.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Less than an hour later, the doorbell rang.  
  
"Youko, go answer that," Shadow ordered.  
  
"What if it's a human?" Youko asked.  
  
"Then it'll be a pretty freaked out human. Go answer the door. AND DON'T MAKE EXCUSES!!!" Shadow snapped before Youko had even said anything. He closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes. "You're pathetic. Hiei will. Hiei, go answer the door."  
  
"Make the fox do it," Hiei said dryly, pointing in Youko's general direction. The fire demon had his eyes closed and was lying stretched out on the couch with a book on his chest that he'd been reading a few minutes earlier.  
  
Shadow glared at them.  
  
"You are USELESS!!!" she snapped, standing up. By then, the doorbell was getting to the more annoying and threatening rings, so she had to run to the door before it started cussing and screaming.  
  
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Shadow snapped, jerking open the door. She came face to face with teenage Koenma.  
  
"Is Youko giving you problems, Shadow?" Koenma asked calmly, correctly assuming the reason she answered the door so angrily. He looked past Shadow into the living room to try to spot the fox.  
  
"You could say that..." Shadow muttered, standing aside to let Koenma in. "But I can handle him. Anyway, Shuuichi woke up. I'm supposing that's why you're here?"  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"He's asleep again now. But he's completely clueless. He doesn't know who anyone is... He can still talk, which is a good thing... but he has no clue about anything. He's like a 2-year-old, I guess... He doesn't know anyone, he didn't understand why he was in pain... You know, because of the injury he got in the fight that separated them..." Shadow explained while leading Koenma into the living room. She stood behind the couch and looked around for a second.  
  
"Do either of you know where Yusuke is?" she asked.  
  
"No," Youko answered.  
  
Hiei opened one eye and looked up at her. "He's in the basement."  
  
"Thank you Hiei. You're a lot more useful than that stupid fox," Shadow said.  
  
She'd been taking every opportunity she could to insult Youko and rub it in his face that she liked Hiei more than she liked him. Youko, of course, couldn't care less that she liked Hiei better, and he also didn't care that she kept calling him stupid, because he knew that she knew that wasn't true.  
  
Shadow led Koenma down to the basement. Yusuke looked up from the game of pool he had been winning against Kuwabara, missing Kuwabara's cheat as he put two balls in the pockets without hitting them. Nobody pointed it out, either.  
  
"Hey, pacifier breath! What's up?" Yusuke said. He looked at the pool table. "Kuwabara, why have two balls suddenly gone missing without the cue ball moving?"  
  
"I dunno."  
  
"Put them back."  
  
"Darn it." Kuwabara put the balls back.  
  
"Where they were, Kuwabara."  
  
"Darn it again." He moved them.  
  
"Thanks! Now, what was it you wanted Koenma?"  
  
"Yes... I wanted to talk to you. We have to figure out what to do with Shuuichi. We can't let him go home, because he won't be anything like what his mother knows him as. He can't go to school, because he wouldn't be anything like what everybody there knows him as, not to mention that he wouldn't have a clue what to do if what Shadow said is true. One of you three has to take care of him," Koenma said. Instantly, Yusuke and Kuwabara pointed at Shadow.  
  
"Why me!?"  
  
"For the same reason you're keeping Youko. Shuuichi has nowhere else to go, and besides, hopefully it'll only be for a little while. Until Koenma figures out how to put Youko back into Shuuichi's human body," Yusuke said.  
  
"I'm ~keeping~ Youko? Like he's my pet or something?" Shadow said.  
  
"Well, he ~is~ a fox..." Kuwabara said thoughtfully. Shadow rolled her eyes.  
  
"And besides, if I brought some clueless 16-year-old back to my house, my mother would want to know what the heck I wanted him there for and stuff, and who he was and all that," Yusuke said, shrugging.  
  
"And I couldn't take him to my house, because Shizuru would remember him, and I would have to explain ~everything~ to her," Kuwabara said.  
  
"You haven't got any parents to nag at you, no older sister to nag at you, and you're far enough away from the city that he couldn't just go wandering outside and get hit by a car," Yusuke said cheerfully.  
  
Shadow rolled her eyes. "Great."  
  
"Well, it's true, Shadow," Koenma said. "Everybody here understands the situation already, and you ~are~ far away from the city and any busy roads, more or less..."  
  
"Fine. That's all I need. A perverted kitsune youkai and a clueless, 2-year- old/16-year-old human... Perfect. Just ~perfect~..." Shadow said dryly, stomping up the stairs.  
  
"What's her problem?" Koenma asked.  
  
"Youko is being an anal bastard," Yusuke said cheerfully, aiming his pool stick and hitting three balls into the pockets in one shot. "Your turn, Kuwabara."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Shortly after Koenma left, Shadow went up to her room and locker herself in.  
  
Shortly after Shadow locked herself in her room, Youko went upstairs. Coming to her door, he turned the knob. It was locked. Since it was still light outside, he was guessing Shadow was still awake. He knocked on the door.  
  
"What!?" Shadow snapped.  
  
"Can I come in, Shadow?" Youko asked, as politely as he could. Shadow glared at the closed door.  
  
"No," she snapped.  
  
Youko thought for a second. "I want to apologize," he said, trying as best as he could to sound sad and sorry.  
  
"Do it through the door. I don't want you in my room."  
  
"Could you at least open the door? I'd rather say it to your face."  
  
"I think one of those pictures on the door has me in it. Say it to the picture. I'll hear it, and you'll be seeing my face as you say it."  
  
Youko slammed the side of his fist into the wall, not hard enough to do damage, but hard enough to be heard quite loudly in Shadow's room.  
  
"Must you?!" he snapped.  
  
"Must I what?" Shadow asked innocently. Maybe if she annoyed him enough, he'd go away.  
  
"Have a stupid comeback for everything!"  
  
"Yes, actually, I must. Got a problem with it? Leave, then," Shadow answered cheerfully.  
  
Outside the door, Youko rolled his eyes. His little plan wasn't working. Typical. 'After living with Hiei for as long as she has, she's naturally going to be suspicious of everything anyone says,' he thought.  
  
"Yes, of course it's my fault," Hiei said dryly, walking past the fox.  
  
"Would you stay out of my mind and keep that stupid eye to yourself?!" Youko snapped. "I might have to poke it out!"  
  
Hiei flinched. "Shadow's not gonna let you in her room, and let me tell you, you better not go and pick the lock again."  
  
"Peh. Since when did I take ~your~ advice?"  
  
"Never. But you should when it comes to this, because I know her a LOT better than you do."  
  
"How much better?"  
  
"Oh, shut up! Just, leave her alone."  
  
The door to Shadow's room opened and Shadow came flying out, tackling Hiei with a hug. He fell over and ended up with Shadow on top of him with her arms wrapped around his neck.  
  
"GOD, WHAT THE *&%# IS THAT FOR, GIRL?!" Hiei yelled.  
  
"Thank you for trying to keep Youko away!"  
  
"Well, you just blew it, Shadow."  
  
Shadow turned around and looked back in her room. Youko was sitting on her bed. She screamed and jumped up, ran back into her room and tackled Youko, knocking him off her bed. He laughed.  
  
"DON'T LAUGH AT ME, BAKA!" she screamed. She stood up and walked to her door.  
  
"OUT!" she screamed, pointing out the door. Hiei had gotten himself to his feet and was standing in the hall smiling.  
  
"You're not going to get him out like that, you know," he informed her. She glared at him and walked back to where Youko was sitting on the floor. She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him into a standing position. Being as he was 8 billion times stronger than her, that didn't work. She glared at him.  
  
"Would you please get up and leave my room?" she asked, attempting to sound polite. She did an even worse job at that than Youko had. The kitsune laughed. Shadow kicked him in the leg.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"LEAVE!"  
  
"No."  
  
"I'm not sleeping with you in here. Out."  
  
Hiei was rather enjoying this little show. He thought it was funny. Shadow heard him laughing and glared at him. He tried to stop, but all he could do was laugh harder.  
  
She threw a CD case at him. Youko burst out laughing. Shadow clenched her teeth and closed her eyes, trying to keep from exploding. It didn't work too well. Letting out a low growl, she grabbed her pillow and a blanket off her bed and stomped down the hall. Hiei and Youko watched her go down the stairs. The two exchanged glances before Youko stepped out of her room and started toward the stairs. Hiei grabbed his tail.  
  
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.  
  
"To the kitchen. I'm hungry," the kitsune answered innocently. Hiei rolled his eyes.  
  
"Likely story... Leave Shadow alone."  
  
"Right. Let go of my tail before I rip off your arm."  
  
Hiei let go rather quickly and watched Youko walk quietly down the stairs.  
  
"Well, if she kills him, it's not my fault," Hiei muttered, heading upstairs to his own room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Shuuichi slept peacefully in the small infirmary bed, completely clueless about anything going on outside the room. Kuwabara and Yusuke were playing another game of pool just down the hall. None of them had any idea what was going on between Shadow and Youko.  
  
Shadow had locked herself in one of the rarely used rooms on the first floor. Youko had the mind to stay away for a while until he was sure she was asleep, which wouldn't be for a while. He knew where she was, so he wouldn't have to waste time at night looking for her if he wanted to go ahead and break the rules again. He wasn't sure that he wanted to. It wouldn't be much good to finally be free and get severely maimed and not be able to enjoy it. He decided to leave her alone that night. Maybe if he went about it in a more... polite... way then she'd not get so mad.  
  
With this decided, Youko happily went up to his own room to sleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Thank you 8 billion times over to KoorimeHiei for reviewing and correcting my mistake. This chapter was edited and fixed up the best I could so that it'd still be okay. Okay? 


	4. Explanations

CHAPTER FOUR  
Explanations  
  
The next day, Shuuichi was up and about. Shadow kept a nervous watch on him as he wandered around the house. He had remembered everybody's names, but that was about all he knew. He knew how to talk, although his vocabulary didn't surpass that of a low-education third grader... He had a basic understanding of everything. He wasn't as much like a 2-year-old as Shadow had first thought. More like a 5-year-old.  
  
Needless to say, that's not much better.  
  
Shadow and Hiei sat at the dining room table. Hiei was holding a book open on the table with one hand, but his attention was mostly on Shuuichi. Shadow was not holding a book open, or trying to put her attention anywhere but Shuuichi.  
  
Shuuichi himself was transfixed by Shadow's fish tank. He seemed to think that watching several brightly-colored tropical fish dart around in a tank was the most amazing thing. He was completely oblivious to the fact that two pairs of blood-red eyes were locked onto him, watching his every move as if any second he would blow up like an atomic bomb.  
  
"Well at least we didn't have to teach him how to walk," Hiei said absently, trying to find a bright side to the situation (since when was Hiei so optimistic?).  
  
"Or talk," Shadow added.  
  
"Or eat."  
  
"Oh, thank God we didn't have to POTTY TRAIN him!" Shadow said, sounding relieved.  
  
"If we had, it would have been your job," Hiei said, sounding freaked out.  
  
"A 15-year-old girl potty training a 16-year-old boy. HAVE YOU GOT BRAIN DAMAGE OR SOMETHING HIEI? IF YOU ASK ME, THERE'S SOMETHING ENTIRELY TOO WRONG WITH THAT PICTURE!!!" Shadow yelled. Hiei leaned back to avoid getting spit on, and his chair fell right over backwards. Hearing the crash, Shuuichi snapped out of his trance and glanced back at Shadow and Hiei. They smiled innocently.  
  
"It's okay, Shuuichi. We're just goofing. You keep on watching the fish. This is the most attention they've gotten since Youko wanted to eat them," Shadow said with a smile. Hiei looked up at her suspiciously.  
  
"How did you know Youko wanted to eat the fish?" he asked.  
  
"The fish told me."  
  
"Pah! Yeah right."  
  
"Just kidding. Yusuke told me."  
  
"Is that part of the reason you hate him so much? Because he wanted to eat your precious little swimmy-fishies?" Hiei teased. Shadow glared.  
  
"No. I think you know all too well why I don't like him," she said, narrowing her eyes.  
  
"Refresh my memory," Youko said from behind them. Shadow spun around. The kitsune was standing in the doorway.  
  
Shadow snorted. Hiei stood and set his chair back on the ground in its proper upright position, then sat down to watch and see if he would be laughing or pulling the two off each others' throats. Shuuichi looked between the two, confused.  
  
"I don't think you need your memory refreshed, fox. But I do have hope that you're getting the rules pounded into your brain, cuz I slept ~alone~ last night!" Shadow said happily. Youko raised one eyebrow.  
  
"I ~am~ over a thousand years old, I think by now I can tell not to mess with a girl when she's as mad as you were. But I ~was~ tempted," Youko said mischeviously. Shadow glared at him.  
  
"Well, you better just keep your little temptations to yourself. I'm not going to put up with this crap, and besides, you're setting a bad example." Shadow pointed at Shuuichi. Youko snorted.  
  
"Right," the fox said sarcastically. "I'm just ~so~ sorry."  
  
"Get lost," Shadow replied. "I am ~not~ in the mood for some sex-crazed, smart-mouth fox to be getting in my way."  
  
"Youko, maybe if you went about it in a more friendly way... You just come out of nowhere one day and start making advances on her. She's probably overwhelmed," Hiei said. The next thing he knew, he experienced the extreme pain of having a crowbar slammed into his head. He fell out of his chair.  
  
"I DON'T NEED YOU GIVING ADVICE TO THIS LOUSY ANIMAL ON HOW TO GO ABOUT GETTING ME IN BED WITH HIM!!!" Shadow stomped out of the room, making as much noise as she could dragging the crowbar up the stairs. Youko watched her go.  
  
"Well, you tried," the kitsune said, helping his friend up. Hiei swayed and had to lean on Youko for support, due to the rather large bump on his head.  
  
"Damn, that girl is dangerous..."  
  
Shuuichi had watched the whole scene quietly, but now he was confused.  
  
"Why does she hate you so much?" he asked Youko. "She's been nice to everyone else, but when you walked in, she started being mean."  
  
"She hates him because he... hm... He ~invaded her privacy~, and she didn't like it much," Hiei answered, trying his best to say it tactfully. Youko didn't care about being tactful. Since Shuuichi still looked confused, the fox explained himself.  
  
"I picked the lock on her door and slept in her bed with her the other night, and she didn't approve," Youko said.  
  
"She freaked out. She would have killed you right then and there if Shuuichi hadn't woke up," Hiei hissed under his breath. "I think 'didn't approve' is way too gentle a way to say that."  
  
"Why would you do that?" Shuuichi asked. Youko rolled his eyes, but the answer came from Yusuke, who had heard part of the conversation from the living room.  
  
"He'd do that because he is a sex-crazed bastard who can't keep his lock- picking hands to himself, especially when it comes to girls."  
  
"Nicely put, Yusuke!" Hiei called.  
  
"Thank you!"  
  
"Oh." Shuuichi seemed to be overcome with information for the moment and wandered off to watch the grass grow or something. Hiei and Youko exchanged glances.  
  
"Honestly, you ~should~ leave her alone," Hiei said after a minute.  
  
"Oh, shut up," Youko said, walking away. Hiei sighed and walked off to find Shuuichi.  
  
When he found him, Shuuichi was entraced by the sight of a ladybug crawling up the wall. Hiei went and stood beside him.  
  
"Having fun?" Hiei asked sarcastically, staring at the little orange bug.  
  
"Fun? Not really. It's just something to do," Shuuichi answered.  
  
"I was being sarcastic. If you had been having fun, I would have been surprised," Hiei answered.  
  
"Oh. Well... Uh... What's sarcastic?" Shuuichi asked (remember, he's got the vocabulary of a low-education third grader).  
  
Hiei, not being very experienced at defining words, had a bit of trouble with this. "It means... uh... When you say you're being sarcastic, it means you don't really mean what you said... and it's usually a rather rude way to talk to people, unless you're just joking around... Which I was, by the way... And... uh..."  
  
"Okay... so when you're sarcastic, it's actually kind of like an insult?" Shuuichi asked thoughtfully.  
  
"Not always. When you say something sarcastically, you're usually joking, and sometimes when you joke about certain things, you end up insulting someone, or hurting their feelings, and... Around Shadow, never be sarcastic in the insulting way. You get hurt," Hiei warned.  
  
Shuuichi nodded. "Okay!"  
  
Hiei sighed. 'I actually managed to explain that and make it understandable! That's a first,' he thought.  
  
"Were you being sarcastic when you said that stuff earlier and got hit in the head?" Shuuichi asked.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I said, Were you being sarcastic when you said that stuff earlier and got hit in the head?"  
  
"Sort of... A little... Yes... No..." Hiei fumbled for an answer, not really sure whether he had or hadn't. "You know, I'm really not sure."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"You ask a lot of questions, you know that?" Hiei said, getting annoyed.  
  
Shuuichi heard the tone of Hiei's voice and stepped back. "Sorry."  
  
"HIEI, ARE YOU SCARING THAT POOR KID?" Shadow yelled. She had just happened to step into the room at that second. What great timing. Not. "Honestly, I leave you down here alone for TEN MINUTES and you're already scaring him!"  
  
"Hiei-san isn't scary," Shuuichi assured her. "He's just annoyed."  
  
"Did you just call me Hiei-san?" Hiei asked.  
  
"Yeah," Shuuichi answered. Shadow burst out laughing.  
  
"Honestly, you really are a confused kid, Shuuichi," Shadow said, still laughing. "No offense, of course. But you obviously still have to get straight who to respect and who not to respect. Everybody in this house is equal. 'Cept me, who owns the house, runs the house, cleans the house, and kills Youko and hides his corpse in the walls of the house."  
  
Hiei's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Shuuichi looked startled. Shadow burst out laughing at the expressions on their faces.  
  
"No, I didn't kill him. I didn't injure him in any way," Shadow said, smiling. "Although I wish I could..."  
  
"But you can't. Cuz if we're ever gonna get Kurama back, we're gonna need Youko around, right?" Hiei said.  
  
"Actually, he ~is~ Kurama. But I know what you mean. And yes, we will, and I'll have to deal with him until who-knows-when because of that," Shadow said dryly.  
  
"Good girl."  
  
"Can we chain him up with reinforced titanium chains and lock him in a room someplace for a while?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Shadow, somehow I think that keeping Youko Kurama chained up in a little room wouldn't work. First, he's a theif. He picks locks. Second, once he had picked the locks, he would be twice as bad, just to make you angry."  
  
"How could he pick the locks if his wrists were chained behind his back?"  
  
"I don't know. He doesn't tell me all his little theiving secrets!"  
  
"God, you don't need to freak."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"I still say chaining him up in a closet would be a good thing to do," Shadow said after a minute. Hiei rolled his eyes.  
  
"Whatever. Go ahead and lock him in a closet. I'm telling you it won't work, and it definitely won't do any good," Hiei replied.  
  
"That's for you to think and me to confirm or disprove," Shadow said with a smile.  
  
"You're actually going to lock Youko in a closet?" Shuuichi asked, surprised.  
  
"Yes. Why not?"  
  
"IT WON'T DO ANY GOOD, SHADOW!!!" Hiei persisted. "I swear. He'll be twenty times worse afterwards."  
  
Shadow sighed. "I think it'll work." With that said, she walked away to find some reinforced titanium chains and very heavy locks.  
  
"It's not going to work," Hiei told Shuuichi, still desperate for somebody to listen to him. Shuuichi shrugged.  
  
"I can't agree or disagree. I don't know a lot about Youko's abilities," he said.  
  
'Right. Well you should. You used to BE him,' Hiei thought. He shrugged and walked away, leaving Shuuichi standing there looking confused. 


	5. Lost

Gasp! I finally updated one of my stories!!! Sorry it took so long, peoples. School, ya know? It's evil.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
CHAPTER FIVE  
Lost  
  
"Guys?" Shuuichi asked, walking into the living room where Shadow, Yusuke, Hiei, and Youko were gathered around a poker table playing cards.  
  
"What is it, Shuuichi?" Shadow asked, only half listening.  
  
"Could I talk to one of you?" Shuuichi asked.  
  
"Which one?"  
  
"Whoever will listen to me, I guess."  
  
"Okay, whoever loses this game, how about?" Shadow suggested. Shuuichi looked skeptically at the three boys. He walked around and peeked over everyone's shoulders at the cards each of them had. Seeing that Yusuke was going to be the horrible loser, Shuuichi came up with a different idea.  
  
"Come to think of it, Shadow, how about I just talk to you whenever you're done with this game," Shuuichi suggested.  
  
"Okay," Shadow said. She'd only heard about half of anything he'd said.  
  
"All right, let's see what you've got," Youko said. Everybody put their cards on the table. A smug grin came onto Youko's face.  
  
"Youko, that is the third royal straight flush you've gotten. You're cheating," Hiei accused.  
  
"Jealous much?" Youko said with a smile. Yusuke was turning colors. He'd had one pair of twos. Not having the intelligence to understand the saying, 'quit while you're ahead,' he had met everybody's bets, and now he owed everybody about $500.  
  
"I thought you were a thief, Youko. I didn't know you were a pro gambler too," Shadow said, sounding slightly impressed. That quickly changed as she muttered under her breath, "Goddamn stupid fox..."  
  
Youko's ear twitched. Shadow looked at him out of the corner of one eye. Hiei was inspecting the table to see how Youko could hide cards and get three royal straight flushes in a row. With a smile, the kitsune made some more markings on a paper and read their bets out loud.  
  
"If you combine all three of yours, the total amount of money owed to me is approximately..." Youko paused. "Seven hundred twenty nine dollars."  
  
"And how much do each of us owe?" Yusuke asked, too lazy to do the math himself.  
  
"Two forty three each," Hiei answered. He was on the floor inspecting the underside of the table.  
  
"Two forty three ($2.43)? That's not much," Yusuke muttered.  
  
"Two hundred and forty three ($243) dollars, Yusuke, baka," Shadow replied.  
  
"Oh." Yusuke turned blue.  
  
"Hiei, you can give up now. It has nothing to do with the table," Youko said.  
  
"How are we going to pay off two hundred and forty three dollars?" Yusuke muttered. Youko smiled.  
  
"I know how ~Shadow~ can pay it off," he said. "Without even using money."  
  
"Dare I ask?" Shadow said.  
  
"Strip poker!" Youko said, smiling. Shadow turned red with anger. Hiei turned red for a mixture of reasons. Yusuke burst out laughing.  
  
"I'd like to see that!" he said, still laughing. Before he knew what had happened, he was on the floor with a black eye, 18 bruises, and 5 rather large bumps on his head.  
  
"Well, that's too bad, Yusuke. If I managed to convince her, it would be for my own private enjoyment," Youko said to Yusuke, although he knew all too well that he was completely zoned out in la-la land, or wherever people go when they have swirly eyes and stars dancing around their head.  
  
Wherever it was that Yusuke went to, Youko joined him a second after that comment. Hiei was sitting on the floor between the two unconscious 'offenders.' He looked up at Shadow with a cute, innocent smile. She set her crowbar down on the table and started frisking Youko.  
  
"What are you DOING?!" Hiei asked, his innocent smile replaced with a look of horror.  
  
"I'm looking for the cards he was using to cheat. If it was nothing about the table, then it had to be him, right?" Shadow said.  
  
"Shadow?" Shuuichi said. Shadow looked up.  
  
"Ah! Oh, sorry! I forgot. You wanted to talk to me," Shadow said. "Talk away. I have to figure out this baka fox's trick."  
  
"Um... Well I wasn't really sure how to deal with this when it happened, so I just stayed quiet. Suddenly, I have these memories," Shuuichi said. Shadow's head snapped up.  
  
"Memories? What of?!"  
  
"Never mind. You'll probably think I'm crazy..."  
  
"No, tell us, seriously. You're not crazy. If anyone is crazy, it's Shadow," Hiei said. "She keeps rabid weasels upstairs in the room across the hall from her bedroom!"  
  
"Really! I don't think anyone is as crazy as me! It's nearly impossible!" Shadow said. "So tell us!"  
  
"I remembered... I was here, I think... and I was with all of you, except Youko wasn't here... And I was drinking beer. Lots of it," Shuuichi said. "So was Hiei."  
  
"Keep going. Nothing crazy yet," Shadow said.  
  
"Eventually, Hiei passed out. Then everything was kind of dim and blurry. The next thing I remember clearly, I was fighting. With a... ~rose~..." he said. "And I got this injury..." Shuuichi put his hand on his stomach where he'd gotten cut in the fight that separated him. It was completely healed, but there was a scar.  
  
Shadow had completely forgotten about frisking Youko for cards. She was sitting on him, completely oblivious to everything but what Shuuichi was saying. She didn't even notice Youko wake up.  
  
"You're not insane," Shadow assured him. "If anything else happens, if you remember anything else, tell me or Hiei as soon as you can."  
  
"Are you sure I'm not insane? I mean, I remember getting drunk. Then I go and fight with a rose. Then everything else is black, until I woke up here."  
  
"For the last time, you're not insane!" Shadow said. "~I'm~ insane! I keep weasels in my house so I can feed door-to-door salesmen to them! I beat people with crowbars! I VIDEO TAPE HIEI WHEN HE'S ON A SUGAR HIGH!!! I'M INSANE!!!"  
  
"Okay, Shadow, we get the idea!" Hiei said.  
  
"And not to mention the fact that you're sitting on top of me with you're hands up my shirt," Youko said quietly. Shadow looked at him and screamed.  
  
"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO WAKE UP YET!" she snapped. "GO BACK TO SLEEP! I'M NOT DONE FRISKING YOU!"  
  
"Oooh, frisking, huh?" Youko said. Hiei turned to Shuuichi.  
  
"If you remember anything at all, no matter how insignificant it may seem, tell me or Shadow. Don't bother talking to anyone else, they're all idiots," he said.  
  
"Okay," Shuuichi said. "I'm going to go for a walk."  
  
"Okee dokee," Hiei said. He turned to Youko. Shadow had him pinned and was trying to frisk him, but since he was conscious, she was a bit more cautious. All she could do was sit there holding his arms on the ground so he wouldn't try anything, and since she was using her hands for that, she couldn't search him, but she refused to let him go until she figured out where he was hiding his cards.  
  
"Youko, you shouldn't have said anything to her. If you'd have kept your mouth shut, she would have continued with her little search like you were unconscious, and you would have been a lot better off," Hiei said.  
  
"A lot better off?! What's that supposed to mean?" Shadow snapped. "Are you giving him advice again?"  
  
"Honestly Shadow, I can't give ~him~ advice on anything. He's a billion times smarter than me," Hiei said.  
  
"At least you realize it, Hiei. Unlike this girl here," Youko said. He pulled off some strange flip attack thing, and a few seconds later, Shadow was the one pinned on the ground. Youko sat on her with a knee on each of her arms.  
  
"Uh... oh..." Shadow muttered. "Hiei? Help?"  
  
"Uh... Youko, don't do anything... er... inappropriate... to her," Hiei said cautiously.  
  
"I wouldn't... One reason being that you're here, and Yusuke's unconscious on the floor, but he could wake up any time," Youko said.  
  
"Oh, what? If we weren't here, you'd just go ahead and rape her or something?  
  
Youko didn't answer.  
  
"YOU BETTER NOT!" Shadow yelled. "Hiei, no matter what, stay RIGHT THERE!"  
  
Youko laughed. "I wouldn't even if he was gone. I'm too nice."  
  
"NICE? If you're so nice, then you'll let me slip by without paying my poker bets," Shadow said. "And you'll get off of me, and you'll leave me alone."  
  
Youko looked surprised. "What will I get out of that?"  
  
"Nothing! You're being nice. You shouldn't want anything!"  
  
"Being friendly ~always~ has its rewards, Shadow. You should know that."  
  
"How? I'm not friendly."  
  
"Obviously. Neither am I."  
  
"Well that's so obvious that saying it made you sound stupid, fox," Shadow said.  
  
"Well you two are just the perfect pair. A couple of rude, overly violent and homicidal lunatics," Hiei muttered.  
  
"PERFECT PAIR? HIEI, YOU'D BETTER STOP IT WITH THE LITTLE TACTFUL HINTS!" Shadow screamed. "I'D HIT YOU RIGHT NOW... but I'm kind of... stuck here..."  
  
"I wasn't making any 'tactful hints,' Shadow! I was just saying that for hating each other, you act a lot alike."  
  
"Aw, I don't hate Shadow. It's one-sided." Youko smiled. "But I'd like to think that she's just putting on some big act..."  
  
"Think that all you want. It's not true. Now if you don't get off of me right now, you're going to suffer severely whenever you ~do~ let me up," Shadow said.  
  
"What? So I'll let you up and get hurt for it?"  
  
"Pretty much so. Unless you let me up right NOW!"  
  
"I don't trust you."  
  
"Aw, what's the matter? Is the mighty Youko Kurama scared of a little girl?" Shadow taunted. "Cowardly, huh? Turnin' yellow? Wimp."  
  
Hiei sweatdropped. "Shadow?"  
  
"In case you didn't previously notice, ~I~ am the one sitting on top of ~you~, Shadow Jaganshi," Youko said. Shadow shrugged.  
  
"Well, that'd better change soon or you're gonna be missing a few appendages. Then they will later be found shoved down your throat," Shadow said.  
  
"Ooh, scary," Youko said.  
  
Nobody noticed, but Hiei was turning red. Steam was pouring out of his ears.  
  
"WOULD YOU TWO STOP YOUR CONSTANT ARGUING?! HONESTLY, IT'S FUNNY FOR A WHILE, BUT THEN IT JUST GETS REALLY ANNOYING!!!" he screamed. Youko was so startled he jumped backwards five feet. Shadow was on her feet in a second.  
  
"THANK YOU!" Hiei yelled.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
After that explosion, Hiei was fine. Somehow, he contacted Koenma to tell him about Shuuichi's memories. Later that day, Koenma showed up at Shadow's house.  
  
"So, what did he remember?" Koenma asked. "I know you told me, Hiei, but I was quite busy."  
  
Hiei rolled his eyes.  
  
"He remembered the night that he... Kurama, actually... got incredibly drunk beating Hiei at a drinking contest, which was the day before the fight that separated him," Shadow said patiently. "And he remembered that fight."  
  
"Okay. Where is he at now? I'd like to talk to him," Koenma said.  
  
"Where? You know, I haven't seen him since. He's usually down here staring at the fish... Hiei, did he tell you what he was planning on doing?" Shadow asked.  
  
"He said he was going on a walk. That was like... six hours ago. He should be back by now," Hiei said.  
  
"I haven't seen him."  
  
"Wait, you mean to tell me he's been on a walk for six hours?" Koenma cried.  
  
"He might be in his room, or one of the rooms upstairs. Hiei, go ask Youko and Yusuke if they've seen him. I'll look in his room," Shadow said. Hiei darted up the stairs with Shadow right behind him. Koenma stood in the dining room stupidly.  
  
After deciding that Shuuichi was not in the house, Koenma ordered the four of them to start searching.  
  
"I can't believe he just vanished like that!" Shadow muttered.  
  
"He didn't ~just vanish~, he went for a walk and either got lost or something happened to him," Koenma said. "Let's hope it was the former."  
  
"Why do I have to help with this? It's not ~my~ fault he got lost or killed or whatever happened to him," Youko complained.  
  
"You're just hoping he died so that you can stay free to harass me for the rest of my life," Shadow snapped.  
  
"Perhaps," Youko said.  
  
"OKAY, LISTEN UP! WE HAVE ONE HOUR OF DAYLIGHT LEFT!!! IT IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE GET SHUUICHI BACK HERE UNHARMED, A.S.A.P.!!!" Koenma shouted. "SO DON'T COME BACK HERE UNTIL YOU FIND HIM!!!"  
  
"OKAY!" Shadow screamed right in his ear. "YOU DON'T NEED TO SHOUT WHEN THERE'S ONLY FOUR PEOPLE AROUND TO HEAR YOU, AND WE'RE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!!!"  
  
Koenma fell over. The group split up and walked into the forest in pairs, leaving Koenma twitching on the ground. 


	6. Forest Demons

CHAPTER SIX  
Forest Demons  
  
Shuuichi wandered around in the forest in total darkness, completely lost. He had no idea how long he'd been gone, or even which direction to walk to get back to Shadow's house. He'd twisted his path around so much that he wasn't even sure which direction he was facing. Hopelessly lost, he sat down at the edge of a small clearing with his back against a tree, deciding to sleep there for the night.  
  
He was just drifting off when he heard strange whispery sounds. They were coming from all around him. Scared, he stood up and looked around.  
  
"Oooh, scared, human prey?" a voice said.  
  
Shuuichi shuddered and pressed back against the tree.  
  
"Shut up, baka!" said a second voice, female this time. "You don't eat humans! And stop making that dumb noise!" The whispers stopped.  
  
Hoping this voice wasn't just pulling tricks, Shuuichi started to relax. He looked around, squinting into the darkness to see if he could find whoever was talking. A bright light flared up out of nowhere and two people, a man and a woman, stepped out of the darkness.  
  
"Hello, stranger," the woman said. She looked like she was about twenty years old, wearing a green skirt and a green tank top, with green eyes and brown hair. The man was wearing black pants, a green shirt, and he had green eyes and black hair.  
  
"Who are you?" Shuuichi asked.  
  
"Who are ~you~, human? What is a human doing in this forest? This is not any place for a human," the man growled.  
  
"Be quiet, Koji," the woman ordered.  
  
"But Aya, he's human!" Koji whined. "This isn't any place for humans!"  
  
Aya glared. Koji backed off. The woman turned to Shuuichi and started speaking to him in a quiet voice, speaking slowly like you would to a little child, giving the words time to sink in.  
  
"Hello, human. My name is Aya, and this is Koji. Who are you?"  
  
Shuuichi was scared. It's not very often that you spend the night in a forest and end up confronted by some people dressed in green who keep complaining about you being human.  
  
"Shuuichi," he managed to say. His voice was shaky.  
  
"Well, Shuuichi, why are you here?"  
  
"What are you people?" Shuuichi asked nervously.  
  
"What are we? Demons, of course, baka ningen!" Koji snapped.  
  
"And why are you... here?" Shuuichi asked, pointing at the ground to indicate that yes, he did mean right here.  
  
"We live here, and have lived here for almost a year," Aya answered. Shuuichi's jaw dropped.  
  
"What?! But this isn't your property. How could you live here?"  
  
"What do you mean, ~it's not our property~? Who cares? Nobody has even discovered us until now, and if it wasn't for Aya's damn sympathy, we would have stayed hidden! But nooo, she sees a little human lost in the forest and has to come help him!" Koji complained.  
  
"KOJI!" Aya yelled. "If you have so much of a problem with it, why did you come with me? You could have stayed hidden, baka!"  
  
"I have to protect you," Koji said.  
  
"Honestly, Koji, does this young boy look like he could do any harm?" Aya asked. "He hasn't even got any weapons! Shuuichi, would you hurt me?"  
  
"I don't know you. Why would I hurt you?" Shuuichi asked.  
  
"There! See?!" Aya snapped. Koji stared at the ground.  
  
"Sorry. But there are people who aren't like him. Shuuichi, I'm sorry for being rude earlier, but you can never be too cautious. There are people who prefer the 'Shoot first, ask questions later' method," Koji said. No sooner had those words come out of his mouth then two forms dove out of the darkness and slammed into the two forest demons. All four went tumbling across the ground, eventually stopping.  
  
Hiei and Yusuke had Aya and Koji pinned to the ground. Hiei had his hand on Aya's throat and his fist back, ready to knock her face off. Yusuke was having enough trouble keeping Koji pinned that he couldn't strangle or punch anyone.  
  
"AYA!" Koji yelled.  
  
"WHO ARE YOU?" Hiei snapped.  
  
"We mean no harm! Please!" Aya begged.  
  
"Who. Are. You?" Hiei asked slowly through clenched teeth.  
  
"Aya and Koji. We meant no harm. Please, do not harm us," the woman pleaded.  
  
Suddenly, Shadow came running into the clearing and shot up a tree like a scared cat. She peered around the trunk at the startled Hiei, who had loosened his grip on Aya's throat and dropped his fist, more concerned with why Shadow was running like that. Perhaps there was some real danger in the forest, rather than a couple life-loving green freaks.  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by Koji, who had proven too smart for Yusuke and had pulled off a trick that got the boy rolling on the ground in pain. The man ran at Hiei and tackled him off of Aya. The two went rolling across the ground again, this time Koji ended up pinning Hiei.  
  
Rather than being scared, Hiei just rolled his eyes.  
  
"Honestly, must we go through this? You are a couple of green-obsessed life- lovers, and I am a fire demon. It's obvious who will win this if we fight," Hiei said dryly.  
  
"I don't care if it's obvious! I'll fight to the death to protect Aya!" Koji made an attempt to punch Hiei in the face, but all he had to do was move his head and the 'life-lover' put his fist into the ground.  
  
Shadow leapt out of the tree from 10 feet in the air and ran out of the clearing again just as Youko walked in. He looked around for a second with a puzzled look on his face, then looked in the direction Shadow had just gone. He let out a pleased 'Ha,' and walked out of the clearing in the same direction as Shadow. Shuuichi, Yusuke, and Aya watched this with looks of absolute cluelessness on their faces. Hiei barely noticed. He was still arguing with Koji.  
  
"I'M NOT KILLING ANYONE, OKAY?!" Hiei yelled. "LET ME UP!"  
  
"I DON'T TRUST YOU! WHY SHOULD I TRUST YOU WHEN I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOUR NAME?" Koji screamed.  
  
"I DON'T KNOW YOUR NAME EITHER, BAKA!" Hiei yelled. "WHAT HAVE NAMES GOT TO DO WITH TRUST?"  
  
"I DON'T KNOW, BUT I'D LIKE TO KNOW YOUR NAME! JUST BECAUSE IT'S THE POLITE THING TO DO WHEN YOU MEET SOMEBODY!"  
  
"HONESTLY, LIFE-LOVER, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! I'M LYING HERE ON MY BACK WITH SOME LUNATIC PINNING ME TO THE GROUND AND YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT BEING POLITE? POLITENESS IS THE ABSOLUTE LAST THING I WOULD THINK OF RIGHT NOW!!!"  
  
"MY NAME IS KOJI, NOW YOU'D BETTER TELL ME YOUR NAME OR I'LL KILL YOU!" Koji yelled, forming some strange spirit attack in his hand.  
  
"Hiei Jaganshi," Hiei said, hoping this guy had heard of him. He had.  
  
"Hiei Jaganshi?! I've heard of you. You're a thief," Koji said, sounding scared. His energy attack disappeared. "Wait... How can I be sure that you're not some kid playing a trick?"  
  
"My God, man! I am not about to prove it! I'd take half the forest!" Hiei snapped.  
  
"Take?"  
  
"Kokoryuu-haa."  
  
"YOU CAN USE THE KOKORYUU-HAA? THAT ATTACK IS IMPOSSIBLE!"  
  
Some nobody guy dressed in clothes you'd normally see in Hawaii or Florida, carrying a surf board under his arm, stepped into the clearing.  
  
"He can, dude. It's like, radical. I mean, like, he shoots this big, like... black thing out of his arm... It's like... a dragon... and it destroys like... a lot of stuff. I mean, it does, like, a lot of damage, dude. And... he kills people with it, and they... like... Die. Y'know? It's pretty radical. Like, far out. Dig it?" With that said, the random surfer dude walked through the clearing and was gone.  
  
"What in the name of...?" Hiei muttered. He heard a scream. It was Shadow. He started to struggle to get away from Koji. The man tightened his grip on Hiei's arms.  
  
He heard another scream, accompanied by, "LIKE, FAR OUT! IT'S A PERSON! IN THE, LIKE, FOREST HERE! THAT'S LIKE, BEYOND NOT NORMAL, DUDE!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!! THAT'S LIKE... UNBELIEVABLE!!! Dig it?"  
  
Then there was a strangled sound and a thud. Obviously, the surfer dude bit the dust.  
  
Another scream.  
  
Shadow came flying into the clearing, waving her arms like a lunatic. She went into the forest on the other side. A second later, Youko came into the clearing, looked around, and ran into the forest the same place Shadow had.  
  
"Could you let me up now?" Hiei asked. "I have a suspicion that my friend is being harassed by my other friend, who, by the way, just killed that random surfer dude."  
  
"Like I care who killed who! I'm going to kill you, Hiei Jaganshi! I'll be famous and make a lot of money!"  
  
"Yeah, right, that's a great lookout on things. 'Let's kill the helpless little anti-gravity haired short guy so we can be rich and famous in Makai! Then Reikai will hate us and we will be murdered, because the little short guy is a spirit detective! Imagine that! Oh, lookie here, now I'm in Reikai prison! How wonderful!!! This was my life's goal when I was a kid! I got real bored and decided that maybe if I was bodyguard for some little girl then she would possibly become a criminal and I could be arrested as an accomplice to her crimes! Then, I'd be in Reikai prison!'" Hiei mocked. He received a punch in the face.  
  
"HOW DARE YOU IMPLY THAT I BECAME AYA'S BODYGUARD BECAUSE I WANTED TO GO TO PRISON? YOU LITTLE CRAP!" Koji yelled. Yusuke decided that he had had enough of this and he stood up to drag Koji away. Aya stopped him.  
  
"Don't hurt Koji! He really doesn't mean any harm. I swear," she whined.  
  
"Riiiight. That's why he just punched the poor helpless little anti-gravity haired short guy in the face! 'Oh look at me, I come in peace! Oops, I didn't mean to punch you! I slipped! I have a small insect living in my brain, and whenever it hits a certain nerve, my arm just kind of flies right out there and punches the nearest anti-grav. haired short guy!!!'" Yusuke snapped.  
  
"LET ME UP!" Hiei was yelling behind them. Shuuichi was still confused. He wasn't sure what to do, if anything. Shadow was still running though the forest screaming with Youko close behind her. Speaking of which...  
  
Shadow came flying through into the clearing, still screaming like a lunatic. She tripped right over Koji, knocking him off Hiei, and giving Youko time to catch up to her. He picked her up by the back of her shirt.  
  
"Shadow, why are you running like that? It's not like I'm going to ~do~ anything to you, baka girl!" he snapped. Looking up, he noticed that everybody in the clearing was staring at him. He dropped Shadow and put his hands behind his back, whistling innocently.  
  
"Okay, let's just act like none of that happened, okay?" Hiei said, standing up. "Who are you people, why are you here, and what were you planning on doing to Shuuichi?"  
  
"We are demons. We've lived in this forest for almost a year. We weren't planning on doing anything to Shuuichi," Aya explained. "We just found him asleep here and wanted to know what a human was doing in this forest."  
  
"Well first off, it's ~my~ forest. You shouldn't have been here in the first place, and none of this would have happened," Shadow snapped.  
  
"You can't ~own~ a forest! Forests are alive! You can't own something that is alive!" Koji snapped.  
  
"Correction! You can't own something that has a mind of its own. If you haven't noticed, trees... Do not have minds. They do not talk, they do not think, unless they are some tree demon or have a demon spirit possessing them, and they cannot just decide to get up and leave whenever they want," Youko said.  
  
"What about the animals? There are rabbits, and foxes, and birds, and insects, and there's a lake not far from here full of fish! Do you own them, too?!"  
  
"They aren't the forest, baka. I said I own the ~forest~, not the animals in it," Shadow said. "So ha-ha on you."  
  
"There's a lake in this forest?" Hiei asked.  
  
"Yes. What is it to you?" Koji asked.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Drop it, would you Koji?!" Aya snapped. "Look, we don't know who any of you are or why you're here, we just know that we have lived here for months and seen no other demons, or any humans. Now suddenly some people show up and claim to own the forest. If this truly is your property, we are sorry."  
  
"What? Aya! What are you talking about? Why do you have to be so damn sentimental?!" Koji snapped. Aya ignored him and continued.  
  
"We'd like your permission to stay in this forest," Aya said.  
  
"What? Right, like I'm gonna let a couple tree-hugging life-lover green- freak forest demons live here? I don't know anything about you! You could be criminals! You could be murderous, thieving lunatics! Seriously, any person with half a brain would have enough sense not to let a couple strangers live in the forest on their property! Holy God, you must be nuts!" Shadow said. Youko looked down at her, surprised.  
  
"God, Shadow, you don't have to freak out about it," he muttered.  
  
"Shut up, fox!"  
  
"Shuuichi, are you okay? We've been here for at least twenty minutes and it's like nobody even noticed you yet!" Yusuke said. "Are you all right?"  
  
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm hoping that you guys came to find me and know your way back to Shadow's house, because if you just came out here and got lost in the same place as I did, we're screwed," Shuuichi said.  
  
"Well, we came to find you... And we found you... But... I haven't got the slightest clue how to get back to my house," Shadow said, looking around. "Does anybody?"  
  
"No. We're screwed," Hiei muttered.  
  
"FOX! USE YOUR SENSES TO GET US HOME!" Shadow ordered, pointing at Youko.  
  
"What the heck, girl! I'm not some search and rescue dog! God..."  
  
Shadow's semi-happy look vanished from her face. She narrowed her eyes and glared at Youko. Through clenched teeth, she growled, "I said... get us home... I expect you... to USE YOUR STUPID FOX SENSES TO GET US HOME!!!"  
  
"What'll I get out of it?"  
  
"MUST YOU ALWAYS GET SOMETHING FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO? HONESTLY, FOX, CAN'T YOU JUST DO SOMETHING BECAUSE IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO?"  
  
"Of course not. I need some... hm... inspiration. I'm sure you understand, Shadow," Youko said.  
  
"I understand, but that doesn't mean I LIKE IT!!!"  
  
"Well I guess you like being stranded in the forest, too?" Youko said.  
  
"Pfft. It's probably better than whatever your idea of inspiration is," Shadow said, crossing her arms.  
  
Everybody in the clearing was watching this little scene. Yusuke wished Shadow would just give Youko his 'inspiration,' because being lost in a dark forest on a cold night with a couple of forest demons isn't something he enjoyed. Hiei had climbed a tree and was resting with his back against the trunk, only half listening to the argument. Koji and Aya were dumbfounded, and wished that Shuuichi would stop staring at them because they wanted to slip into the forest unnoticed, but that's hard to do when a pair of emerald-green eyes are glued onto you watching your every move.  
  
"Fine. I can spend a night in this forest. Hiei can. Obviously those life- lovers can too. If you, Yusuke, and Shuuichi are too weak to sleep in a forest clearing, then you go ahead and wander around. Get even more lost. Fall in the lake. But I'm staying right here until you promise I'll get something out of showing you all the way out of the forest," Youko said, sitting down with his back against a tree. He closed his eyes and curled into a tight ball with his tail wrapped around him, and stayed there. Shadow's jaw dropped. She stared at him in disbelief for a while before turning and looking up at Hiei. He shrugged and made himself comfortable on the branch he was sitting on.  
  
"Like I said. We're screwed," Shuuichi muttered. He, too, curled up on the ground, trying his best to make himself comfortable. Shadow watched as Koji and Aya also lay down to sleep. Surprisingly, they didn't try to escape into the forest. They were probably saving that until everyone was asleep. Yusuke was the only one who hadn't given up yet.  
  
"Oh, for God's sake..." Shadow muttered. Climbing the same tree as Hiei, she tried her best to make herself comfortable on one of the branches, but, not being as accustomed to sleeping in trees, she promptly fell out. Grumbling and cursing under her breath, she lay down with her back against the tree on the opposite side, so she was in the forest rather than the clearing. Yusuke wasn't about to give up. He was determined to not sleep in a tree, or on the ground in a cold, dark forest. He walked over to Youko and kneeled beside him.  
  
"Hey Youko!" he whispered. The kitsune opened one eye.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'll get you half an hour alone with Shadow if you get me out of this forest!"  
  
"Oh, lovely. So you enjoy pain?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Or perhaps you're subconsciously suicidal?"  
  
"What?!"  
  
"If you do anything like that, Shadow will kill you."  
  
"No she won't. Hiei won't let her."  
  
"Whatever happened to people saving their own lives?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"'Hiei won't let her'! How about, 'She couldn't hurt me because she's a pansy little girl, so just get me out of the forest so you can have your half hour!'"  
  
"Uh... Okay, I can deal with that one, too," Yusuke said, confused.  
  
"Good for you. But I can get my own time with her. Go away and let me sleep."  
  
"But..."  
  
"Away!"  
  
"Youko, seriously, I've seen how you go about getting your time. You end up getting a crowbar slammed into your head!"  
  
"Honestly, Yusuke, you don't know when to give up... Leave me ALONE!!!"  
  
"STOP YELLING!" Shadow screamed suddenly. "YUSUKE, IF YOU TRY ANYTHING LIKE WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO TRY, YOU WILL BE TRYING TO PUT YOURSELF BACK TOGETHER, THAT'S WHAT!"  
  
"See?" Youko said, smiling. He transformed into a fox and curled up with his tails over his nose.  
  
"A spirit fox?!" Aya said, startled. "I've heard of them... But I never saw one before!"  
  
"SHUT UP, I'M TRYING TO SLEEP! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE SLEEPING, SO WOULD YOU JUST GO TO SLEEP AND BE SURPRISED ABOUT SPIRIT FOXES TOMORROW?!" Shadow screamed. "THANK YOU!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
They all FINALLY managed to get to sleep (Hiei being the first, since he just zoned out of the screaming and arguing and yelling below him). The next morning they woke up to discover that Aya and Koji hadn't vanished off into the forest while they slept. Yusuke shook them awake.  
  
"Hey forest freaks! Why didn't you vanish off into the forest like I know you were planning?"  
  
"What? Damn! Aya, you were supposed to wake up in time to get us away before they woke!" Koji complained. "Now we're doomed to be kicked out of this forest!"  
  
"YOUKO KURAMA, WAKE YOUR LAZY BUTT UP!!!" Shadow screamed, inches from the fox's ear. Youko, still in his fox form, leaped up and let out some yappy hissy noise. Then, seeing it was Shadow rather than some murderer, he stepped back and transformed into a humanoid.  
  
"Good morning, Shadow. Sleep well?" he asked.  
  
"Shut up, fox. Lead us out of here NOW. Your inspiration is that if you don't, you'll get your entire body ripped into shreds," Shadow snapped.  
  
"She didn't sleep well," Hiei said from his place in the tree.  
  
"Yes, so I noticed, Hiei. Okay, okay, so I'll stop the little nothing conversations! Follow me," Youko said.  
  
"THANK YOU!" Shadow said. She grabbed Aya and Koji and pushed them out of the clearing after Youko. "Come on, tree-huggers..."  
  
Eventually, they got back to Shadow's house. When they walked in the front door, Shadow discovered that Koenma had made himself quite comfortable.  
  
The house was a mess.  
  
"KOENMA, YOU LITTLE WITCH!" Shadow screamed. Koenma came sliding into the room on a wheeled swivel chair. Instantly, his eyes got the size of dinner plates and about 400 sweatdrops appears on his head.  
  
"Oh, uh... Hi Shadow!" he said nervously. "I thought you were gone and lost and dead for sure!"  
  
"Right. With these two around?" She pointed at Youko and Hiei.  
  
"What about me?" Yusuke asked.  
  
"Yeah, well you don't care enough about me to protect me."  
  
"And we do?" Hiei asked.  
  
"YOU BETTER!"  
  
"We do! We do, don't worry, we'd protect you, yeah, so, uh... Not like you really ~need~ protected... I think you're pretty well off on your own," Hiei said with little upside-down U-eyes and an innocent smile.  
  
"Glad you think so. Koenma, anyway, we brought back a couple demons that we found in MY forest, and I want to know something about them," Shadow said. She dragged Koji and Aya out in front of her. "Meet Aya and Koji. They're tree-hugging, life-lover, green-obsessed demons that were living in my forest for months without me knowing about it and without my permission."  
  
"Aya and Koji? Never heard of them."  
  
"Well, do you think you could possibly FIND SOMETHING OUT?!"  
  
"What breed of demons are you?" Koenma asked.  
  
"We're forest demons. We live in forests," Aya said.  
  
"Duh," Koji whispered.  
  
"We meant no harm by living there, but it's extremely large and nobody ever came around to get rid of us, so we though it was unclaimed land," Aya said.  
  
"And did you have permission to travel from Makai to Earth?"  
  
"Permission? From who?"  
  
"AH! THEY'RE ILLEGAL ALIEN DEMONS!" Shadow screamed, jumping around. "ARREST THEM! ARREST THEM!!!"  
  
"Why, Shadow? I didn't arrest ~you~ when you first came here illegally," Koenma pointed out. Shadow glared.  
  
"I had a very good reason. Makai was a very cruel place and nobody there seems to like half-breeds. And besides, you posted a guard on me instead!"  
  
"Guard? Like I really had time to guard you..." Hiei muttered. He then went into some long, drawn out complaining under his breath about how stupid the government system is and why should everybody who looks like they're old enough to go to school be forced to go to school and why didn't he just destroy the stupid school, not like it really would have been that hard, and how stupid living with Kurama had been {1}, and all sorts of other stuff that nobody except Youko heard because he was saying it quietly enough that all they heard was incoherent mumbles.  
  
"Yes, well that's beyond the point. Aya and Koji, right?" Koenma said. The two demons nodded. "Well, I'm afraid I'll have to take you to Reikai with me until I can find out more about you."  
  
"What?!" Koji cried.  
  
Koenma rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, complain as much as you want; it won't do any good. Ah, yes, Shadow, I see you found Shuuichi. Good. Congratulations."  
  
"She did no such thing. I'm the one who found him. She was too busy running from Youko to notice anything until she tripped over Koji, who was being quite rude and trying to kill me," Hiei said, finally snapping out of his under-the-breath complaining.  
  
"Trying to kill you?" Koenma asked, startled.  
  
"Yeah. He punched me. Boo-hoo. Not like it really hurt... Tree-hugging weakling..."  
  
"You want something that hurts, Hiei Jaganshi?!" Koji snapped. "You want pain?! PAIN? YOU LIKE PAIN, HIEI JAGANSHI? HUH? DO YOU, HIEI JAGANSHI?"  
  
"WOULD YOU STOP CALLING ME HIEI JAGANSHI?! IT REALLY GETS QUITE OLD AFTER, oh, like... THE FIRST TIME!!!" Hiei screamed.  
  
"BACK TO REIKAI!" Koenma yelled. "BEFORE SOMEBODY BITES THE DUST!"  
  
"Oh, speaking of biting dust, Youko killed a human," Shadow said.  
  
"WHAT?!" Koenma yelled.  
  
"Yes, of course, announce it to the one person who can get me in trouble for it, Shadow. Good going. Now I'm in trouble," Youko growled.  
  
"Well, that ~was~ the point, baka fox," Shadow replied, smiling.  
  
"Youko Kurama, you know it's against laws for any demon to kill a human! Wait. When and where did he kill a human?"  
  
"Youko Kurama? The legendary bandit Youko Kurama? ~And~ the bandit Hiei Jaganshi? This is too weird," Koji muttered.  
  
"Yes, the legendary bandit, the murder, the thief, the spirit fox who is supposed to be dead but as you can quite plainly see, isn't," Youko said.  
  
"Though some of us wish he were," muttered Shadow.  
  
"I heard that, girl."  
  
"That's nice. Not like I said it all that quiet."  
  
"WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME?" Koenma screamed.  
  
"HE KILLED SOME RANDOM SURFER DUDE IN THE FOREST LAST NIGHT!" Shadow answered. "OKAY?"  
  
"OKAY, YOUKO, YOU'LL NEED TO COME WITH ME, THEN! I KNOW YOU CAN'T BE PUNISHED PROPERLY IF WE'RE EVER GOING TO GET YOU BACK--" Koenma was cut off by a rather angry Shadow.  
  
"KOENMA, STOP SCREAMING! TALK LIKE A NORMAL PERSON, OKAY?!"  
  
"OKAY! As I was saying, Youko, you need to come back to Reikai with me so I can decide what to do with you. Obviously I can't properly punish you, because if I were to do that, then I would have to keep you in prison for about 1,000 years because of all the things you've stolen over your life. But I'll just let those slip, because we are going to need to forget about all that if you're going to get recombined with Shuuichi here, right?" Koenma said.  
  
"Recombined? That is something that's not on my list of things to do, Koenma," Youko informed him.  
  
"Well, you haven't got a choice in this."  
  
"Gee, thanks."  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
"Sarcasm, baka."  
  
"That's nice."  
  
"Right. Wait..." A thought struck Youko and he voiced it out loud. "If I'm going to prison, then Shadow will have a little vacation from me."  
  
"WOOHOO!" Shadow squealed.  
  
"But I'll be away from her... And the next time I see her, I'll probably be stuck back in the stupid human's body, right?"  
  
"Woohoo?" Shadow said nervously.  
  
"Koenma, could I have about fifteen minutes?" Youko asked.  
  
"What? What for?"  
  
"None of your business!"  
  
"Say no. Say no! SAY NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Shadow begged. "HE WANTS TO HAVE FIFTEEN MINUTES WITH MEEEEEEEEE!!! SAY NO!!!"  
  
"No."  
  
"No what?" Shadow asked hopefully.  
  
"No, Youko can not have fifteen minutes."  
  
Youko narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth. "Damn you, Koenma. Damn you to Makai and back."  
  
"THANK YOU!" Shadow screeched. She almost hugged Koenma, but decided against it since she would probably squeeze him to death.  
  
"Let's go, you three," Koenma said.  
  
"Honestly, must I? I won't kill anyone else. Seriously," Youko said, hoping Koenma was feeling lenient.  
  
"So?! You already killed one person, and that's enough."  
  
"Damn."  
  
"Now stop begging and get your stupid fox-tailed butt out the door."  
  
"You can't honestly send me to prison."  
  
"I can and I am, now STOP STALLING!!!"  
  
Youko rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Shadow. This is just great. Just great! Perfect! I'll love you forever for getting me SENT TO PRISON!"  
  
Obviously, he was being sarcastic. Shadow just smiled. An evil, evil smile. But a smile all the same.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
{1} A reference to my story, "YYH: The Meeting." Basically, Hiei and Shadow got sent to school with Kurama, and had to live with him for the entire school year. If you haven't already read it, go read that story if you don't understand or if it sounds interesting. Please.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I am aware that I have gone like... way off the topic of the story. A bunch of randomness has happened, right? Well, I'm hoping that this chapter didn't seem pointless, cuz it won't be later in the story. Seriously. This chapter might seem like a complete act of random randomness where everything that happened was random, but it wasn't. Only the surfer dude was completely random. The rest has a point, okay? So don't get mad.  
  
Get Glad!  
  
No, I am not putting subliminal messages in my story. I am not promoting the use of Glad bags or whatever the heck Glad makes. Microwave containers or something. Just... Never mind. Just don't completely ditch out on me because my story is completely going off-topic... R&R to tell me what you think, please. The reason this story may seem to be floating off in la-la land is because school is evil, and I just write stuff that comes into my head, and hope that it will eventually make sense. Yes, I know that is a very haphazard way of writing, but it usually does work... Usually... Heh. ^_^; 


	7. A Possible Solution

REJOICE, FOR UPDATE I FINALLY DO!!! *blows a trumpet and waves little flags while fireworks go off in the background*  
  
REJOICE, FOR TALK LIKE YODA I DO!!! *gets punched in the head by a slightly annoyed 2-foot-tall green munchkin-lookin' thing with pointy ears, which shouts, 'TALK LIKE ME YOU SHALL NOT, UNIQUE I AM!!!' and gets the nice reply of 'F*** OFF, LIL' MUNCHKIN!!!' accompanied by a boot to the head*  
  
(Yes, I ~am~ proud of being overly violent, thank you very much. Disclaimer: I do not own Yoda! Or Star Wards! I mean... Star Wars! I just talk like Yoda a lot and am, at the present moment, on a small chocolate high... Weeeeee!!!)  
  
REJOICE, FOR SHUT UP I WILL AND START SHALL THE STORY!!!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
CHAPTER SEVEN  
A Possible Solution!  
  
(Rejoice, for here is a possible solution! *blows a trumpet and gets hit in  
the head with a basket ball thrown by our dear little fire youkai, Hiei  
Jaganshi...)  
  
"Reikai prison. Have fun," Koenma said as he locked Youko and the two forest demons, Aya and Koji, into a cell together. "Ah. Oh. Youko, I need you to give me the seeds that I know you keep with you. All of them."  
  
"What? ... Agh..." Youko muttered. He reached up and pulled quite a few seeds out of his hair.  
  
"I expect these back when I get out of here," he said as he put his hand through the bars to give the seeds to Koenma. "If I don't get ~all of them~ back, you're going to be sorry."  
  
"Yes, I'm sure," Koenma said dryly, taking the seeds. "Now don't try anything."  
  
He walked down the hall, leaving Youko alone with Aya and Koji. They were sitting together on one side of the cell. Youko turned to look at them.  
  
"Well, I guess we're stuck together for a while, right?" Aya said miserably. "We might as well get to know each other..."  
  
"No, we might as well ~not~," Youko retorted. He leaned against the bars and closed his eyes. "Shadow is going to be quite miserable the next time she sees me..."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Shadow was dancing around her house like she had just won 8 trillion dollars. Occasionally she would grab somebody (usually Hiei) by the shoulders and scream in his face, "YOUKO'S IN PRISON! GONE!!! I'M FREE!!!"  
  
That unfortunate person would then walk away miserably wiping spit off his face, or coughing and muttering about Shadow's bad breath, which she did not have, but whoever the unfortunate person was, he just got put in a really bad mood, so he said she had bad breath. She wouldn't notice, because she was too busy dancing and squealing with happiness.  
  
This went on for at least half an hour before Hiei finally got sick of it. The next time she grabbed his shoulders, he slapped her in the face and screamed at her that they got the idea and were quite frankly very sick of her being so happy, they almost liked it better when she was living in constant fear of the perverted fox and were about to go bail him out just so she would shut up.  
  
She shut up.  
  
Instead of screaming and dancing for the next half an hour, she sulked around glaring at Hiei. Finally, Koenma came back and she stopped sulking and screaming and doing anything because he wanted to talk to them, and she didn't have time to be sulking and screaming.  
  
"Okay, I think we need to start thinking of how to get Kurama back to how we know him. Youko soul, human body, right?" he said. Yusuke and Hiei nodded. Shadow agreed so fully that she nodded so hard her head was in danger of coming disconnected from her spinal cord.  
  
"Any ideas?"  
  
"Why don't we just have Youko do what he did sixteen years ago when he was born into the human body?" Hiei suggested. "I know ~he~ won't cooperate with that on his own, but I'm sure we could think of something to get him to cooperate."  
  
"Yeah, something involving Shadow..." Yusuke muttered.  
  
"I THOUGHT ONCE HE WAS GONE I WOULDN'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH ANY MORE PERVERTED JOKES, YUSUKE! BUT NOOO, YOU JUST ~HAD~ TO GO AND SAY THAT, DIDN'T YOU?" Shadow screamed. "WHY DO YOU THINK I TOLD ON HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE? TO GET RID OF HIM AND HIS PERVERTED MIND! Perv..."  
  
"Well, Yusuke's right..." Hiei whispered.  
  
"I DON'T CARE!"  
  
"Okay, boys, let's try to find another way before we force Shadow into anything..." Koenma said.  
  
"You'd better find another way or I'm afraid Youko will stay in prison for the rest of his stupid life, and Shuuichi will be stuck as a human, cuz I am NOT about to be used as a bribe," Shadow hissed.  
  
"Of course not," Hiei said. "Let's think of something else. Koenma, do you know anything about the possibility of finding another demon like the one who originally separated them? One who could do that whole soul deal to take out Youko's soul and put it in Shuuichi?"  
  
"No, but I could investigate. I think it would be a good thing to know EXACTLY what Youko did the first time, sixteen years ago. I mean, he's said that he tore his soul from his body, but there's got to be something more than that, right?"  
  
"Possibly. I wouldn't know. I've never been that desperate..." Hiei said lazily. Shadow smiled.  
  
"I'll ask him about it... I think once we have that information and have more to work off of, we'll have more chance of figuring it out," Koenma said. "I'll go do that now. You just continue on with your normal lives as best you can until I get back."  
  
With that, Koenma vanished. Poofies. Hiei sighed.  
  
"Well, hopefully we'll have Kurama back to normal soon... Until then... I don't know. But right now, I'm going to bed," he said. He walked up the stairs. Shadow plopped down on the couch to watch TV for the next 6 hours straight.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Koenma walked down the halls of Reikai prison until he came to Youko's cell. The kitsune had his back against the bars, but he noticed Koenma coming. His ear twitched, but he didn't move.  
  
Aya and Koji were across the cell, facing towards Youko. They saw Koenma stop outside.  
  
"What do you want, Koenma?" Youko said. Koenma hadn't even said anything.  
  
"Ah. I wanted to talk to you, Youko," he said.  
  
"Well, I kind of figured that, baka... No, I thought you came up here just to stand there and stare at us," the fox said sarcastically.  
  
"Youko, I need to ask you some questions, and you had better answer them truthfully, and without sarcasm."  
  
"That's nice."  
  
Koenma nearly exploded. "ARE YOU EVEN PAYING ATTENTION TO ME?!"  
  
"No. Not really."  
  
"YOUKO KURAMA, YOU REALLY NEED TO GET A LIFE!!!"  
  
"No, I like my life just fine how it is."  
  
"Oh? You enjoy being in prison?"  
  
"Not particularly, but otherwise my life has been perfectly fine and dandy," Youko said dryly.  
  
"Oh. That's... Wait! I didn't come up here to talk about your life being fine and dandy!!! God, must you go and change the subject on me?!"  
  
"Yes, yes indeed I must. But technically I wasn't changing the subject, since you never really gave a definite subject to change," Youko said dryly. He had his eyes closed and wasn't even facing Koenma. Only Aya and Koji could tell he was thoroughly enjoying pissing the kid off.  
  
"Well here's the subject: You."  
  
"WELL THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT, DIPSHIT!"  
  
"Not you, like... Never mind."  
  
"Okay!" Youko started neverminding. He whistled some strange song, completely ignoring Koenma. Finally getting sick of the stupid fox's stupid stupidity, he stopped yelling and started thinking.  
  
He came to a decision and walked away. Once he was out of the prison area, Youko sighed and stopped whistling.  
  
"How can you be like that to the Prince of Reikai?!" Koji asked. "That's extremely disrespectful, and he could just kill you anytime he wanted. You're already in prison, all he's got to do is order your death."  
  
"He wouldn't do that, baka," Youko said.  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Because he needs me. I'm a spirit detective, of sorts..."  
  
"What?! Then why are you in prison?!"  
  
"Must I explain my life to you? Because if I must, then you'd better get comfortable; I've lived over a thousand years!" Youko snapped, sounding annoyed.  
  
"No, that's quite okay..." Aya said.  
  
"Good." Youko's ear twitched. "Oh, what now?!"  
  
Koenma came walking back down the corridor, followed by a guy wearing clothes suitable for Florida or Hawaii or other such tropical place, carrying a surf board under one arm.  
  
"Oh... God!" Youko muttered, recognizing the guy as the random surfer dude from the forest. They guy he had killed. Oh, yay. "What is ~he~ doing here?"  
  
"Youko, since you are being an uncooperative little twit, I have decided that, since you are in a prison cell with no plants or seeds anywhere nearby to use as weapons and are threfore defenseless, I am going to put this surfer guy that you murdered outside your cell to bother you until you agree to answer my questions. Have fun," Koenma said. He walked away, leaving the surfer dude outside Youko's cell.  
  
"Hey, man, I remember you! You, like... Killed me! Ya know? It was pretty... radical... You just... killed me... I guess now I'm, like... dead. Right? So, I see you like... Got thrown in prison for your like... crime, man. Pretty radical, no?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Dude, I totally dig that attitude, man! That's like, sweet! Tubular! Dig it?"  
  
Youko slid down the bars and sat down, prepared to use whatever means neccesary to block out the surfer dude.  
  
"Hey, you know, I'm sure it'll be like, pretty cool to be dead and all that, like, stuff, you know, but I'm totally gonna miss being alive. Like, totally. See, because back when I was actually, you know... Alive... I could surf, like... all the time. It was pretty tubular. Like, once, there was this like... hurricane coming, and I was like... totally fueled up to go like... surfing that day, so I just... went anyway, you dig what I'm sayin'? Well, those waves were like... big. Real big. They had to be at least 75 feet tall! I went out surfing, and..."  
  
Youko whimpered and covered his ears, but the surfer dude's voice still got in. He had no choice but to listen to the amazing repetitiveness of the guys 'like,' 'radical,' 'tubular,' and other such words that he seemed to love. And also the unbelievably annoying phrase, 'Dig it.'  
  
"So I just, like, dove right into the water onto that like... gimungously big shark's back and stabbed it to death with like... a Q-Tip. Dude... And when I was sure it was like... totally, completely, radically dead, I jumped back up to the boat, which had to be, like... 300 feet, with that shark on my, like... back. It was pretty radical. Dig it?" the dude was saying. Youko whimpered again and slid down until he was lying on the floor, still trying to hold his ears closed.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Shadow was just going upstairs when Koenma's voice floated into her head telepathically.  
  
"Hey Shadow!"  
  
"Hey Koenma. Did you get anything?"  
  
"No. But I'm working on it."  
  
"That's just great. Knowing Youko, you'll be waiting a long time before he gives you any information that'll take away his freedom," Shadow muttered.  
  
"Oh, don't be so sure, Shadow. I have my methods."  
  
"Oh really? Care to inform me?"  
  
"Remember that surfer dude he killed to get him in prison in the first place?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well I put that guy outside Youko's cell and told him to keep talking for as long as he could about anything he wanted to. Youko will be talking in no time," Koenma said. "He can't hold out long with that incredibly annoying dude there, talking nonstop."  
  
"Go Koenma!"  
  
"Yes, I'm ingenius, aren't I?"  
  
"No, but you have your moments," Shadow teased. "Okay, take a hike, I'm going to sleep."  
  
"Right..."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Four hours later, Youko was still holding up. He was curled up in a ball with his hands clamped over his ears and his eyes squeezed closed, but he was still alive. Koenma came to check on him.  
  
"Hello, surfer dude!" Koenma said cheerfully. The dude stopped talking and looked up.  
  
"Oh, hey, Junior!"  
  
"Right... Youko, how are you doing?" Koenma asked, with a 'ha-ha, you are suffering' tone in his voice. Youko opened one eye and looked up at Koenma. "You don't look too well."  
  
"I'm not. This surfer dude is just bringing brutal, bloody murder visions into my head... Not to mention the fact that the way this guy talks is the most annoying thing I have ever heard..." he muttered. Koenma smiled.  
  
"Ready to answer my questions yet?"  
  
"It depends on what they are," Youko said cautiously.  
  
"How exactly did you separate yourself sixteen years ago and enter the human body?" Koenma asked. Youko relaxed a bit.  
  
"It's too hard to explain."  
  
"Could you do it again and still survive?"  
  
"Perhaps. Is that your grand solution? To torture me with this surfer dude until I agree to recombine with Shuuichi?"  
  
"Well, if the surfer dude doesn't work, I have several other methods..." Koenma said thoughtfully.  
  
"Such as?"  
  
"Well, I don't want to use violence... I prefer to torture the mind rather than the body in these cases..."  
  
"How kind of you, but I'd probably hold up better against pain," Youko replied.  
  
"Well, that's why I'm not using pain. And besides, I don't want to hurt you. You're a nice enough person to anybody who is not a girl or your opponent in a fight," Koenma said. Youko snorted and rolled his eyes.  
  
"Speaking of girls, is Shadow enjoying herself without me there?" Youko asked.  
  
"Yes, quite," Koenma answered. He saw something flash in Youko's eyes that he wasn't too sure that he liked. He quickly changed the subject. "Youko, it is very important that you and Shuuichi recombine. If it is possible for you to do whatever you did 16 years ago, now, I ask that you do."  
  
Koenma paused. "At least you'll get out of prison if you do. Isn't that worth it?"  
  
"No. I'll be imprisoned inside the human body, which is worse. I might be able to recombine on my own, but I'd rather not risk it."  
  
"Risk it? What do you mean?"  
  
"Sixteen years ago, I hid myself inside an unborn human baby. When that baby was born, it was me. Shuuichi Minamino, as he is now, may not be able to recieve my soul the same way I combined with Shiori Minamino sixteen years ago."  
  
"I see..." Koenma whispered. "At least you have a passable reason and a good explaination, rather than not wanting to. Why didn't you tell me that in the first place? It would have saved you a lot of suffering from this surfer dude."  
  
"You never asked!"  
  
"You didn't give me the opportunity! You just kept on ignoring me, or being sarcastic, and you made me mad!"  
  
"Boo hoo," Youko retorted.  
  
"Children! Let's not fight, please," Aya said. She walked up to the bars. "Koenma-sama, could I please speak with you privately?"  
  
"What about?"  
  
Aya's eyes turned to Youko. He noticed and raised one eyebrow curiously.  
  
"I think I can help," Aya said. Koenma nodded.  
  
"Youko, move. You're leaning on the door," he said. The kitsune rolled his eyes and walked to the other side of the cell. Koenma unlocked the door and let Aya step out, then he quickly closed and locked it again.  
  
Youko knew he could easily pop the lock and take off, but he decided there was no point. It wasn't really like he was a criminal... He was, but he was gaurenteed freedom, because Koenma needed the fused form, Shuuichi Kurama, in the reikai tantei group. Youko's intelligence wouldn't do the tantei any good locked up in prison, but Youko wouldn't be the same friend, offering kind advice to help the group, unless he was combined with the human.  
  
Koenma and Aya were gone for at least half an hour. When they finally came back, Youko was sleeping peacefully in the corner. Koji walked to the front of the cell to meet his companion.  
  
"Well?" he asked. "What's your decision?"  
  
"I believe I will allow you to try it," Koenma said, closing the cell door quietly. "Let him rest for now, we'll talk it over when he's awake."  
  
After leaving the cell, Koenma went back to his office and called to Hiei telepathically.  
  
'Hiei?'  
  
There was no answer. He tried again, louder. This time he got some random thought that drifted across Hiei's telepathic wavelengths. All it was was a rather bloody threat, spattered with an abundance swear words, but it was seemingly directed at nobody.  
  
Koenma decided Hiei was asleep, because there was no way that he would let something like that just drift in his mind if he was conscious. He would find somebody to direct it at and say it.  
  
He tried Shadow. 'Shadow?! Are you awake?'  
  
He got an incoherent mumble. 'SHADOW!'  
  
'Hnnnn... Call back in two years...'  
  
"Hn?" Koenma muttered out loud. "She's been around Hiei to long." He tried Hiei again. It was really quite important that he got through to somebody in that house.  
  
'HIEI JAGANSHI, WAKE UP!' he screamed.  
  
Hiei nearly fell out the window he'd been sleeping in, but he caught himself just in time. He blinked.  
  
'Koenma?'  
  
'Finally! I need you to round up Shuuichi, and if you want to bring Shadow, Yusuke, and Kuwabara along, get them too, but I need at least Shuuichi in Reikai as soon as you can get him here. Preferably within the hour.'  
  
'Why? What's going on?'  
  
'I think I have a way to get back Kurama as we know him.'  
  
'What?! Okay... Well... We'll be there soon,' Hiei said. He closed off his telepathic channel because he didn't want Koenma pestering him anymore. Picking up his discarded shirt, he walked towards Shadow's room, pulling on the shirt as he went.  
  
"Shadow? Get your lazy butt out here, we've got to go to Reikai!" Hiei yelled. He waited for a minute and when she didn't come out, he pushed open the door, which was surprisingly unlocked.  
  
Shadow was curled up on her bed with a pillow over her head, sound asleep. Hiei rolled his eyes.  
  
"Shadow, get up," he said. She didn't move. Annoyed, Hiei grabbed the pillow off her head and hit her with it. She moaned.  
  
"Leave me alone," she muttered. She rolled over and opened her eyes. She saw Hiei, standing there with his hands in his pockets. "What are you doing in my room?! Who invited you? Haven't you ever considered the possibility that I might be doing something that is none of your business? Honestly, you're just as bad as that stupid fox!"  
  
"Am not! I didn't pick the lock, and I didn't sleep with you."  
  
"You were thinking about it."  
  
"Was not! I yelled through the door and you didn't wake up, so I came in and hit you with a pillow. We have to take Shuuichi to Reikai," Hiei said.  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"Koenma thinks he has a way to recombine them," Hiei answered. Shadow's eyes lit up.  
  
"Really?"  
  
Hiei nodded. Shadow squealed.  
  
"YES!!! FINALLY!!!"  
  
"It really hasn't been that long, has it?"  
  
"I don't know, but one hour around Youko seems like about twenty years, especially if you're me," Shadow said. "Getting harassed and whatnot."  
  
"Yes, well I'm not you, and other than Youko's insane sex craze, I think he's perfectly fine," Hiei answered.  
  
"Pfft. You would," she muttered.  
  
"What?! What's that supposed to mean?!"  
  
"Oooh, nothing," Shadow said. It was obvious from the tone of her voice that she had been implying something.'  
  
"Were you implying that I'm gay?"  
  
"I dunno. Maybe," Shadow said, rocking back and forth on her feet with her hands behind her back. In a second, Hiei grabbed a pillow off Shadow's bed and whacked her upside the head with it.  
  
"Ow! Hey, that wasn't nice!"  
  
"Boo hoo," Hiei said sarcastically. He turned to walk out of the room. "Hurry up, we're leaving as soon as I can find Shuuichi."  
  
Hiei found the boy in the living room, asleep on the couch. The TV was on, and the remote control was in Shuuichi's hand.  
  
"Shuuichi, wake up," Hiei said, shaking him gently. The redhead stirred and opened one emerald green eye.  
  
"Hiei?"  
  
"Yeah, get up. We're going to Reikai," Hiei said. He took the remote from Shuuichi's hand and turned off the TV.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"We're going to get you help," Hiei said, phrasing it as best he could.  
  
"Help?"  
  
"Yeah. Don't worry, it's for the better. Come along," Hiei said. He went to the bootom of the stairs. "SHADOW, GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE!!!"  
  
A second later, Shadow came running down the stairs wearing all black, as usual. Only, the strange thing was that she was wearing one of Hiei's many identical cloaks.  
  
"Shadow. Where did you get that? It's mine, am I right?"  
  
"Pfft. Mine now. Let's go!" Shadow said. "Onward to the spirit people's land!"  
  
Hiei rolled his eyes and led the way out the door.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When they arrived at Reikai, Koenma led the three of them to the prison cell where Youko and the two forest demons were. The kitsune was still sleeping peacefully in the corner.  
  
"Aya informed me that she and Koji might be able to help. They have some special technique dealing with souls, and if they modify it a bit, they should be able to reverse what happened in the first place," Koenma informed the three.  
  
"Should be?" Hiei asked suspiciously.  
  
"There are some risks," Aya said, stepping forward.  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Well, the worst is that one or the other of them will die, or become a soulless shell, incapable of thought or feelings," Aya said, quickly adding, "but the probability of that is very small."  
  
"How small?" Shadow asked.  
  
"About one in a thousand," Aya answered.  
  
"Oh... And what is the best bad thing that can happen?"  
  
"Minor memory loss. But I'm sure everything will go smoothly if we have plenty of time to inspect both of them," the woman said confidently.  
  
"Well, what do you think?" Koenma asked.  
  
"I'll do it," Shuuichi said. "I know I'm part of this, and it's important to you... I guess it should be important to me, but I don't remember what you're trying to put back to normal. I don't know what normal is, I mean."  
  
"Good. Aya, Koji, I'll give you your time with the two of them..." Koenma said. "I'm glad we're finally going to get back the Kurama we know..."  
  
"What? Aren't you going to ask what ~I~ think of it?"  
  
Nobody had noticed Youko wake up. Probably because he hadn't let on that he was awake. He sat up, glaring at them.  
  
"I don't appreciate being shoved into this like I have no choice," he continued. "You could at least ask if I agree, and ~then~ force me into it when I say no."  
  
"Well what would the point in that be? We knew you weren't going to agree, and even if we hadn't known, you just said it, so what's the point in asking?" Shadow pointed out. Youko turned to her.  
  
"Hello, Shadow. Came up to visit, huh? Or maybe you just like seeing me in a prison cell," he said dryly.  
  
"Nope. I came up because Hiei practically dragged me out of bed and brought me here. And besides, if this all works, this is the last time I'll see you for a while, so I might as well have come."  
  
"What, do you actually ~care~ that you won't see me?"  
  
"Hmm... Not really. It's not like you're going to die or anything. Hopefully," Shadow added.  
  
"Yes, hopefully..."  
  
The surfer dude still hadn't left, and was therefore still sitting in the same place he had been for hours while he tortured Youko with his horrible speech and stories. He looked quite confused.  
  
"Dude, you mean, like... You hate each other...?"  
  
"Ah. Surfer dude, I forgot all about you, sorry. You'd best be leaving. This is nothing a normal human would understand..." Koenma said.  
  
"Dude. Okay, like... I'll go then." The surfer dude left.  
  
"Okay. Aya, how much time will you need with them before you can perform the technique?"  
  
"I'm not sure. Not very long, perhaps an hour total."  
  
"Come with me," Koenma said, opening the cell door. "All three of you."  
  
He led the way down the wall with Aya, Koji, and Shuuichi right behind him. Youko, Shadow, and Hiei hung back a couple feet.  
  
"Have fun?" Hiei asked. Youko rolled his eyes.  
  
"Shut up, Jaganshi," the kitsune said dryly, annoyed enough to call Hiei by his last name.  
  
"Did you miss Shadow?" Hiei teased.  
  
Youko looked down at Shadow. "You know, I was hoping to see her again before I got fused back into that wretched human body..."  
  
"Yes, yes, go figure," Shadow muttered.  
  
"And not for the reason you might think," Youko said. Shadow stopped dead. Hiei and Youko turned to look at her.  
  
"What is it?" Hiei asked.  
  
"What reason might you be talking about, fox?" Shadow asked. "If you're not wanting to see me for your perverted reasons... Then..."  
  
"I wanted to yell at you. You know, I have managed to evade prison for all my life, then suddenly one puny little girl has to go and be a crybaby tattle-tale to the Prince of Reikai," Youko snapped. He changed his voice to imitate a baby. He pointed at no one in particular and made it look like he was about to cry.  
  
" 'Koenma-sama, Youko killed a human in the fo'west!!! He killed him dead!!! Put him in pwison fo' da west of his life, pwease Koenma-sama!!! That way, he won't be able to sexually hawass me anymo' and I'll be safe to caywee on my affair with Hiei!' " he mocked, jumping from one foot to the other lightly.  
  
"I AM NOT HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH THAT BAKA!!!" Shadow and Hiei screamed simultaneously, pointing at each other. Youko's eyes sparkled.  
  
"Yes, well if you weren't, then why did you avoid me? We all know I'm better than Hiei, and unless you were already claimed by somebody, then why would you want to avoid ~me~?" Youko taunted.  
  
"BETTER IN WHAT WAY, BAKA FOX?!" Hiei snapped.  
  
Shadow shuddered. In saying that, Youko had made a sort of challenge to Hiei and she was afraid that solving the challenge would involve her in more ways than one. She tapped Hiei on the shoulder lightly.  
  
"Hiei?"  
  
He ignored her. "Answer me, fox!"  
  
"Well, I'm more intelligent... A better fighter... I've got more experience. In many, many fields..."  
  
"Is that fields as in a literal field, what with the grass and whatnot, or fields such as science, math, martial arts...?" Shadow asked. Again, she was ignored.  
  
"I won't argue with intelligence, because that's obvious," Hiei said grudingly. "But a better fighter?! That's crap!!! You may have more experience, but that doesn't make you stronger!!!"  
  
"Weren't you talking about why I would prefer Hiei over you?" Shadow said loudly. Youko's ear twitched.  
  
"Yes, Shadow, we were. I was still on that topic, but Hiei seems to have strayed off into some la-la land or something," Youko said dryly. Hiei turned red.  
  
"FINE! Why would you be so much better than me that Shadow would want you more than me?" Hiei asked, deciding that Youko wouldn't be able to think of many reasons. He was wrong.  
  
Youko smiled. "I'm sexy..."  
  
Hiei's eye twitched. Shadow's eyes got slightly bigger.  
  
"Loving..."  
  
Hiei snorted.  
  
"Gentle..."  
  
Hiei coughed. Shadow was shivering.  
  
"Like I said before, more experienced in many fields, which include seduction, and love," Youko said slyly. Shadow's jaw dropped.  
  
Hiei was on the verge of something, though anybody watching wouldn't be able to tell. It looked a bit like he was either going to throw up, blow something up, or pass out on the floor.  
  
"Not to mention I'm much better in bed," Youko said. This last part was too much. Shadow passed out.  
  
"Good going, baka!" Hiei snapped.  
  
Koenma, Aya, Koji, and Shuuichi hadn't even noticed the trio stop, and were far, far ahead by that point, so they hadn't heard a single thing anybody said, which was definitely for the best.  
  
"What? I can't help it if she passed out from the sudden realization that I really ~am~ 800 times better than you, and she can't believe she's wasted so much time on you," Youko said. Hiei fumed.  
  
"She hasn't wasted ANY time on me! And if she did think of me that way, it wouldn't be a waste of time!" Hiei snapped. Youko swished his tail.  
  
"Well, of course you would say that," he said dryly. "But that doesn't make it true. When she wakes up, we'll ask her who she would prefer."  
  
"Well you sound quite confident, baka fox," Hiei snapped. "In case you didn't notice, she was furious when you slept with her. She was plotting to kill you. The only thing that kept her from it was the hope that soon you would finally be recombined into the human body and be back to the normal Kurama she knows and actually might care about!"  
  
"Oh? So she likes me when I'm in a human body, but she doesn't like me in my more sexy demon form?" Youko asked skeptically.  
  
"Actually, yes. Because when you're in the human body, combined, Kurama is not a pervert. He does not hit on her, he does not sleep with her without her permission, he does not steal anything, eat her angelfish, annoy her constantly with suggestive looks, or list ways that he's better than me!!!" Hiei screamed.  
  
"Hm... I guess that is true," Youko said thoughtfully.  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"  
  
Hiei and Youko spun around to see Koenma standing at the end of the hallway.  
  
"GET MOVING!!! Why is Shadow unconscious!?"  
  
Hiei pointed at Youko instantly. Koenma nodded.  
  
"Well, drag her along anyway, we don't want to leave her in the prison. Now COME!!!" he yelled. Youko lazily walked along, leaving Hiei to carry Shadow. Of course, he had no problem with that, since she wasn't ~that~ much bigger than himself, so he gathered her up and trailed along after the fox.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Youko, Shuuichi, Aya, and Koji were left alone for an hour. During that hour, Shadow woke up and was quite happy that Youko was nowhere nearby.  
  
"Are you sure we can trust these forest demon people? Who's to say that they aren't in there right now murdering Youko and Shuuichi and hiding their mangled corpses in the walls?" Hiei asked. Koenma's eyes got big.  
  
"They haven't got any criminal records at all. They're healer demons, believe it or not," Koenma answered. Hiei nodded.  
  
"I still don't trust them," he muttered.  
  
"Shut up," Koenma retorted.  
  
"Excuse ME?"  
  
"I told you to shut up, and you'd best listen. Oh! Here comes Aya." Koenma walked over to greet Aya. They talked for a few minutes before the prince called Hiei and Shadow over.  
  
"They're ready to start," he said.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Have you noticed how my stories have got a bit more perverted? I had to up the rating on this one to PG-13... Just to be safe... Sorry. It's Youko's fault. Blame the fox!!! It's all his fault!!! Always his fault!!! Blame him!!!  
  
No, I'm not dissing Youko, he's cool. But I need somebody to blame other than myself!!! I'm never responsible for anything!!!  
  
. 


	8. The End

CHAPTER EIGHT  
The End  
  
The group followed Aya into the room. Shuuichi and Youko were standing side by side with their eyes closed, looking rather calm. Koji was muttering some words under his breath.  
  
"It should be quite painless, and it should only take about 5 seconds. That's just an estimate. After the fusion, he will probably be unconscious. Don't wake him. Take him home, or somewhere that he can rest," Aya instructed. Hiei and Shadow nodded. "Here goes."  
  
The two healer demons held hands. Their free hand was placed over one of the two boys' hearts. There was an explosion of bright light. Hiei, Shadow, and Koenma flinched away, trying to block the light with one arm and see what was going on at the same time. Unfortunately, all they could see was the blinding white light.  
  
~([What!?! I had to use something to keep you from knowing the secrets of soul transfer and recombination! Either that or I was using it to cover up the fact that I really have very little knowledge on the subject. Oh well; bright light is a good way to cover these things up, either way. It's very common and not very original, but it works.])~  
  
The next thing they knew, the light subsided. Once their vision cleared up and they stopped seeing spots, Hiei, Shadow, and Koenma saw Aya and Koji sitting on the ground, looking a bit exhausted. Between the two, one person lay. A person with long red hair. Youko Kurama was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"I'm assuming it worked?" Koenma said, looking down at Kurama. Hiei and Shadow were already kneeling beside him, checking his pulse, checking his breathing, making sure something hadn't screwed up. From the looks of it, he was back to how he had been for the past 16 years.  
  
"He seems fine," Hiei reported.  
  
"Let's take him to a room to rest," Koenma suggested. He looked at Aya and Koji. "You two can stay here until you've recooperated as well, if you wish."  
  
"Thank you, Koenma-sama," Aya said. Koenma gathered Kurama into his arms and led them down the hallway.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It was the next morning before Kurama woke up. He found himself in a large bed in one of the [many] spare rooms in Koenma's castle. Remembering everything from the time he was separated was very strange. He remembered it once from the human mind, and had different memories from Youko's mind.  
  
He remembered the things Youko had said to Shadow. And done to Shadow. He flinched. Sitting up, he looked around the room. Hiei was asleep in one corner. Shadow was on the floor. With a smile, he got out of the bed and walked over to Shadow first. He knelt beside her.  
  
"Shadow?" he said, shaking the girl. She opened one eye sleepily.  
  
"Hn?"  
  
"Hey," he said, smiling.  
  
"Kurama?"  
  
"Yeah, it's me. Back to how you know me," he said, still smiling. Shadow nearly screamed. She jumped up off the floor and tackled Kurama with a hug. He fell over.  
  
The thud, not to mention Shadow's squeal of happiness, woke up Hiei. He looked up and saw Shadow lying on top of Kurama with her arms wrapped around him.  
  
"I'm assuming he's back?" he said, smiling. Shadow and Kurama looked up.  
  
"Yup! Aren't you happy?" Shadow said, standing up to let Kurama to his feet. The boy walked over to Hiei.  
  
"What's up with you? You look miserable. Don't tell me you're not happy to see me back like this?" Kurama asked, putting his arm around Hiei's shoulders.  
  
"You have no idea how hard I am trying not to hug you," Hiei said quietly.  
  
"Oh, go on, Hiei. Have an emotional moment! He's only been your best friend for years! I mean, it's not like you care about him or anything," Shadow said, pushing Hiei towards Kurama. The second Hiei hugged his friend, Shadow had her camera out.  
  
Snap!  
  
"SHADOW!"  
  
"Look at me! I got a picture of Hiei's emotional moment!"  
  
"YOU! YOU'RE DEAD! GIVE ME THAT CAMERA!"  
  
"Nope! No way are you getting this! This is priceless!"  
  
"SHADOW!"  
  
"Ha ha!"  
  
"Please?!"  
  
Shadow did nothing more than stick out her tongue. She ran out the door, down a few hallways and into Koenma's office.  
  
"Kurama's back!" she shouted.  
  
"Oh, that's good to hear," Koenma said, stamping away at some papers.  
  
"Gee, you couldn't sound happier," Shadow said sarcastically. She turned around to walk out the door and was tackled by Hiei.  
  
"GIVE ME THAT CAMERA!"  
  
"No! Mine! It's mine and you're not getting it unless I get something in return!"  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Your sword."  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"Yuppers. I want your sword."  
  
"Heck no, you're not getting that! How about this one: You give me the camera and you get to survive?"  
  
"Nope. Not good enough. I want something that I can sell for money. Either that or you could give me about $500 in cash."  
  
"I haven't got $500! You think I'm rich or something?! Bum money off Koenma, not me! If I had any money, I wouldn't be living with you!"  
  
"Oh really? Fine, you just go back to living in trees and caves, you dumb old man!"  
  
"I am not old! Koenma's old!"  
  
"Am not!" Koenma yelled.  
  
"Shut up, you midget, I wasn't talking to you!" Hiei snapped.  
  
"Koenma, be proud. You're the one person that Hiei can call a midget," Shadow said, sounding like it was a great honor to be called a midget by some guy who is barely over five foot himself.  
  
"Guys? I mean, I don't want to spoil your fun of anything, but could we by any chance go back to Ningenkai?" Kurama asked, suddenly appearing in the doorway.  
  
"Sure we can, Kurama! You just have to get Hiei off of me and tell him that he's not getting my camera, and we'll be on our way!" Shadow said cheerfully.  
  
"Hiei..."  
  
"Ergh. ... Fine! Just don't go showing that picture off to the world," Hiei snapped, standing up. Shadow jumped up.  
  
"Well let's go. I'm sure everybody else is looking forward to seeing Kurama again, too," she said, leading the way out the door. As soon as they were outside Koenma's office, she turned on Kurama.  
  
"But if you EVER get separated again, or lose control of that damned kitsune, I swear to God that fox's head is going to be on a stick in my yard!" Shadow snapped. Kurama sweatdropped.  
  
"Okay... I'll be sure to remember that... Um... And if I have any control over what happens, I'll make sure that doesn't happen..."  
  
"Good! Let's go!"  
  
Hiei snickered.  
  
"What are YOU laughing at, Hiei?" Kurama asked.  
  
"Oh, nothing."  
  
"No, seriously! What were you laughing at?"  
  
"I said nothing!"  
  
"Hmph. Like I'm going to believe you!"  
  
"CHILDREN, LET'S GO! HOLY GOD, YOU NEVER MANAGE TO GET TWO FEET WITHOUT ARGUING!" Shadow yelled.  
  
"Like you have room to talk, Shadow!" Hiei snapped.  
  
"I do!"  
  
"Yeah right!"  
  
"What!? I do!"  
  
"That's bull crap!"  
  
"I see your point, Hiei," Kurama said. "You two are arguing already..."  
  
"WOULD YOU STOP STANDING OUTSIDE MY DOOR YELLING AT EACH OTHER?!" Koenma screamed. A portal formed in the floor and Hiei, Shadow, and Kurama fell through it, landing in Shadow's front yard in Ningenkai.  
  
"Well that was simple..."  
  
"Remember, Kurama. Any more Youko pervertedness directed my way and I'm gonna whip your ass and kick you umpteen ways into next week."  
  
With a smile, Kurama walked off down the street. He glanced back at them and waved. Shadow's jaw dropped.  
  
"Were his eyes gold just then?"  
  
"No."  
  
"They looked gold."  
  
"You're delusional."  
  
"No. They were gold."  
  
"Were not."  
  
"You're blind if you didn't see that. They were gold."  
  
"You're very delusional. You should see a doctor."  
  
"Maybe those damn healer demons didn't really know what they were doing and Youko's going to be back by tonight."  
  
"Insecure..." Hiei muttered, scrawling it down on a small notepad.  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"I didn't say anything."  
  
"I wasn't talking to you! I was talking to the little people on my shoulders."  
  
Hiei added 'schizophrenic' to the list.  
  
"That's it, I'm locking all the doors, windows, and bolting on the doors and windows shut again. That fox is NOT getting into my house," Shadow said, her eyes darting back and forth nervously. She stood up. Hiei quickly added 'paranoid' to his list and followed her inside, occasionally adding some more disorders as she continued her incessant muttering.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
EPILOGUE: Hiei never had to give his list (which had gotten quite long) to any psychiatrists. He did show it to Kurama, and explained all of them were Youko's fault, and Kurama was quite ashamed and instantly went to apologize to Shadow. She started getting a bit better after a week or so with no signs of Youko. But you never know. He could just show up again any time, and she'd have to hide in a closet, humming and rocking back and forth, her mind decaying into nothingness as the sex-crazed fox paced outside the door. *dramatic music plays, sounding really good, until the pianist suddenly suffers from a fatal heart attack and dies. Then the music sounds worse than anything believed to be humanly possible. Everybody who hears it suffers from emotional, mental, and audible scars for about 8 years. The end*  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I kinda left it open for a possible sequel. If you think there should be a sequel, tell me in the form of a review, and give me ideas. But at the moment I have three other stories I'm working on, and about 400 ideas being shaped up in my head, so it might be a while till I get to a sequel (if I write one). I honestly should pay more attention in school. Then I wouldn't have 400 ideas. But the thing is, my mind drifts, and then it's just like... during Geometry... BOOM! Oh my God, that'd be a good idea! During English... BOOM! Oh, that'd be funny, I should add that to a story! During science, in which we have been going over the same thing for two weeks and the teacher even admitted it, BOOM! Look at that, another idea. Wow, I really should get a new brain, this one is quite crowded. Parts of it may start moving out.  
  
No! I don't have to pay attention! I get straight A's, so what's the problem?! I can let my mind drift and I only start paying attention if the teacher says, "This is really important, it'll show up on the Chapter test and everybody always misses this question." But even then I don't pay attention... I like to write. I should just drop out of school and write books. If a person drops out of school, but always got 98% in English and Reading class, and makes a living as an author, the fact that you dropped out will not effect your ability to get a job. As long as you can write good, and your grammar doesn't suck worms, you're good to go. That's my goal. Though I won't drop out, cuz that would dub me as a quitter. Which I'm not. So don't go dubbing me. Or I'll whip your ass and put your head on a stick in my front yard. Possibly my back yard. Or maybe just a clearing in the forest so the cops don't catch me.  
  
Sayonara! 


End file.
